Role of the basal ganglia and dopamine neurons for reward learning in social context

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26750379
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: Tamagawa University
• Principal Investigator: ENOMOTO Kazuki 玉川大学, 脳科学研究所, 科研費研究員 (10585904)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ドーパミン / 社会性 / 霊長類 / 報酬 / 意思決定 / 学習

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In a social context, we make decisions and select actions based on long-term reward expectation. We showed that activities of midbrain dopamine neurons in monkeys represented super-long-term reward information when monkeys were over-trained about a behavioral task in which they attain a goal following multiple reward acquisition. We also trained monkeys to do a social task in which they need to observe the other agent to obtain reward efficiently. Monkeys’ behavior indicated that they learn from others’ action and reward consumption to improve their own decisions. These results contribute to uncover the neural system involved in learning and decision-making in a social context.

Free Research Field

基盤・社会脳科学