Reward: a dopaminergic dichotomy.

摘要

When an animal learns to associate a specific cue with a reward, the cue not only has predictive properties but may itself become desirable. Dopamine is known to play a key part in such reward-related processes, but its precise role is unclear. Now, using two inbred rat strains that show differential responses to novelty, Flagel et al. show that dopamine is selectively involved in reward learning when cues become desirable.