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Abstract:
Active avoidance tasks in which subjects have to learn to act to avoid shocks or other aversive stimuli, are psychologically and neurally problematic. Dopaminergic aspects of these problems are both posed and illuminated by recent data from Gentry et al (Nature Comms, 7.13154) who measured phasic concentrations of this neuromodulator in the nucleus accumbens core of rats as they acted to get food, avoid shocks or, in neutral trials, for no programmed consequence. Neutral trials are particularly revealing, since they are attractive if shocks outweigh rewards, but that attraction can lead to Pavlovian misbehaviour in which the subjects act quickly, and so counterproductively hasten the next possible shock. I will discuss theoretical approaches to this conundrum.
