Abstract
Evidence that the delay-period activity of dopamine neurons corresponds to reward uncertainty rather than backpropagating TD errors
Highlights
We previously demonstrated the presence of delay-period activity in midbrain dopamine neurons, and provided evidence that this activity corresponds to uncertainty about reward
Because the activity of dopamine neurons appears to code reward prediction error, it has been suggested that dopamine neurons may provide a teaching signal in analogy to the prediction error found in temporal difference (TD) models of reinforcement learning
We have reported that dopamine neurons show a gradual increase in activity that occurs between onset of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and reward when the CS is associated with uncertainty about the reward outcome [3]
Summary
We previously demonstrated the presence of delay-period activity in midbrain dopamine neurons, and provided evidence that this activity corresponds to uncertainty about reward. An alternative interpretation of our observations was recently put forth in which it was suggested that the delay-period activity corresponds not to uncertainty but to backpropagating TD prediction errors.
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