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Research ArticleNew Research, Cognition and Behavior

Striatal Activity and Reward Relativity: Neural Signals Encoding Dynamic Outcome Valuation

Emily S. Webber, David E. Mankin and Howard C. Cromwell
eNeuro 13 October 2016, 3 (5) ENEURO.0022-16.2016; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0022-16.2016
Emily S. Webber
1Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
2J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind & Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
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David E. Mankin
1Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
2J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind & Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
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Howard C. Cromwell
1Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
2J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind & Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
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Abstract

The striatum is a key brain region involved in reward processing. Striatal activity has been linked to encoding reward magnitude and integrating diverse reward outcome information. Recent work has supported the involvement of striatum in the valuation of outcomes. The present work extends this idea by examining striatal activity during dynamic shifts in value that include different levels and directions of magnitude disparity. A novel task was used to produce diverse relative reward effects on a chain of instrumental action. Rats (Rattus norvegicus) were trained to respond to cues associated with specific outcomes varying by food pellet magnitude. Animals were exposed to single-outcome sessions followed by mixed-outcome sessions, and neural activity was compared among identical outcome trials from the different behavioral contexts. Results recording striatal activity show that neural responses to different task elements reflect incentive contrast as well as other relative effects that involve generalization between outcomes or possible influences of outcome variety. The activity that was most prevalent was linked to food consumption and post-food consumption periods. Relative encoding was sensitive to magnitude disparity. A within-session analysis showed strong contrast effects that were dependent upon the outcome received in the immediately preceding trial. Significantly higher numbers of responses were found in ventral striatum linked to relative outcome effects. Our results support the idea that relative value can incorporate diverse relationships, including comparisons from specific individual outcomes to general behavioral contexts. The striatum contains these diverse relative processes, possibly enabling both a higher information yield concerning value shifts and a greater behavioral flexibility.

  • electrophysiology
  • goal-directed action
  • incentive contrast
  • motivation
  • nucleus accumbens
  • single unit recording

Footnotes

  • The authors declare no competing financial interests.

  • This research was supported by Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health Grant 1R15-MH-091016. The Bowling Green State University Department of Psychology and the J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind & Behavior provided supplemental funding.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.

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eneuro: 3 (5)
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September/October 2016
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Striatal Activity and Reward Relativity: Neural Signals Encoding Dynamic Outcome Valuation
Emily S. Webber, David E. Mankin, Howard C. Cromwell
eNeuro 13 October 2016, 3 (5) ENEURO.0022-16.2016; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0022-16.2016

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Striatal Activity and Reward Relativity: Neural Signals Encoding Dynamic Outcome Valuation
Emily S. Webber, David E. Mankin, Howard C. Cromwell
eNeuro 13 October 2016, 3 (5) ENEURO.0022-16.2016; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0022-16.2016
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Keywords

  • electrophysiology
  • goal-directed action
  • Incentive contrast
  • motivation
  • nucleus accumbens
  • single unit recording

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