The function of dopamine and striatal neurons in guiding behavior in uncertain environments

NIH RePORTER · NIH · U19 · $777,821 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project abstract Animals must acquire and integrate information over time in order to make decisions. In addition, as the environment changes, animals must use new information to update previous models of the world and revise their decision making process. We observe such decision making processes in mice by challenging them to use changing and probabilistic environmental information to choose a motor action to achieve water rewards. These tasks engage the striatum and evoke dynamic dopamine signaling which is thought to be crucial to the decision making process. Here we will use modern methods of analysis of motor action with simultaneous observation of bilateral activity in the dorsal and ventral striatum to understand how features of behavior, the environment, and reward history are encoded in the striatum during dynamic decision making. Our predictions highlight the potential importance of hemispheric asymmetry in striatal dopamine, SPN and PKA activity in action selection, motor behavior and stochasticity of choice. We will further test these predictions using use time locked perturbations of activity to understand the causal relationship of these signals to ongoing and future behavior.

Key facts

NIH application ID
9993584
Project number
5U19NS113201-02
Recipient
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
Principal Investigator
Linda E Wilbrecht
Activity code
U19
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$777,821
Award type
5
Project period
2019-08-15 → 2024-07-31