@article {Song381103, author = {Minryung R. Song and Sang Wan Lee}, title = {How do dopamine neurons resolve a tradeoff between performance and energy?}, elocation-id = {381103}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.1101/381103}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {The reinforcement learning (RL) theory accounts for the two types of dopamine activity patterns: phasic and ramping. However, we still lack an understanding of when and why dopamine activity transitions between the two modes. This study examines a theoretical possibility that dopamine neurons ramp up, though it is a physiologically demanding job, to distribute cognitive resources in both space and time, while they transition to an energy-efficient phasic firing mode to concentrate cognitive resources on learning reward-predicting cues. These results lend better insight into how animals find tradeoffs between task performance maximization and resource consumption minimization.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/01/381103}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/01/381103.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }