RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Rethinking dopamine prediction errors
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 239731
DO 10.1101/239731
A1 Matthew P.H. Gardner
A1 Geoffrey Schoenbaum
A1 Samuel J. Gershman
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/21/239731.abstract
AB Midbrain dopamine neurons are commonly thought to report a reward prediction error, as hypothesized by reinforcement learning theory. While this theory has been highly successful, several lines of evidence suggest that dopamine activity also encodes sensory prediction errors unrelated to reward. Here we develop a new theory of dopamine function that embraces a broader conceptualization of prediction errors. By signaling errors in both sensory and reward predictions, dopamine supports a form of reinforcement learning that lies between model-based and model-free algorithms. This account remains consistent with current canon regarding the correspondence between dopamine transients and reward prediction errors, while also accounting for new data suggesting a role for these signals in phenomena such as sensory preconditioning and identity unblocking, which ostensibly draw upon knowledge beyond reward predictions.