Nigrostriatal dopamine system may contribute to behavioral learning through providing reinforcement signals to the...

The nigrostriatal dopamine system has long been regarded to play an essential role in motor mechanisms, since selective damage to this system results in the severe motor disturbances known as Parkinson's syndromes. The mechanisms how the nigrostriatal dopamine system plays a part is still not clear. Based on recording of single neuron activity in the primate striatum and selective destruction of the nigrostriatal dopamine system, we propose that this system is crucially involved in behavioral learning through providing reinforcement signals to the striatum during behavioral learning. The way of involvement in learning seems to be consistent with the reinforcement learning rule.