The authors present a unified account of 2 neural systems concerned with the development and expression of adaptive behaviors: a mesencephalic dopamine system for reinforcement learning and a “generic” error-processing system associated with the anterior cingulate cortex The existence of the error-processing system has been inferred from the error-related negativity (ERN), a component of the event-related brain potential elicited when human participants commit errors in reaction-time tasks The authors propose that the ERN is generated when a negative reinforcement learning signal is conveyed to the anterior cingulate cortex via the mesencephalic dopamine system and that this signal is used by the anterior cingulate cortex to modify performance on the task at hand They provide support for this proposal using both computational modeling and psychophysiological experimentation

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The neural basis of human error processing: Reinforcement learning, dopamine, and the error-related negativity.

Dopamine has been implicated in the cognitive process of working memory but the cellular basis of its action has yet to be revealed. By combining iontophoretic analysis of dopamine receptors with single-cell recording during behaviour, we found that D1 antagonists can selectively potentiate the 'memory fields' of prefrontal neurons which subserve working memory. The precision shown for D1 receptor modulation of mnemonic processing indicates a direct gating of selective excitatory synaptic inputs to prefrontal neurons during cognition.

Modulation of memory fields by dopamine D1 receptors in prefrontal cortex.

The principal features and mechanisms of dopamine modulation in the prefrontal cortex

A circuitry model of the expression of behavioral sensitization to amphetamine-like psychostimulants

Excessive fear and anxiety are hallmarks of a variety of disabling anxiety disorders that affect millions of people throughout the world. Hence, a greater understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in the inhibition of fear and anxiety is attracting increasing interest in the research community. In the laboratory, fear inhibition most often is studied through a procedure in which a previously fear conditioned organism is exposed to a fear-eliciting cue in the absence of any aversive event. This procedure results in a decline in conditioned fear responses that is attributed to a process called fear extinction. Extensive empirical work by behavioral psychologists has revealed basic behavioral characteristics of extinction, and theoretical accounts have emphasized extinction as a form of inhibitory learning as opposed to an erasure of acquired fear. Guided by this work, neuroscientists have begun to dissect the neural mechanisms involved, including the regions in which extinction-related plasticity occurs and the cellular and molecular processes that are engaged. The present paper will cover behavioral, theoretical and neurobiological work, and will conclude with a discussion of clinical implications.

Mechanisms of fear extinction

Inhibitory effects of ventral tegmental area stimulation on the activity of prefrontal cortical neurons: evidence for the involvement of both dopaminergic and GABAergic components.

This study was undertaken to identify the neurotransmitter of the projection from the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus (MD) to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) using both retrograde transport of D-[3H]aspartate and electrophysiological approaches in the rat. Unilateral microinjections of D-[3H]aspartate performed into the prelimbic area of the PFC resulted in dense labelling of numerous cells in the ipsilateral MD. Excitatory responses were observed in PFC neurons after electrical stimulation of the MD. However, since cortical neurons project to the MD, these excitatory responses could have resulted either from the activation of the MD-PFC pathway and/or from the activation of recurrent collaterals of antidromically driven cortico-thalamic fibres. The conduction time of each of these two reciprocal pathways was determined by antidromic activation. Short latency excitatory responses resulted from activation of the MD-PFC pathway. They were predominantly observed in PFC neurons located in layer III and evoked at low frequency stimulation (0.3-1 Hz). These excitatory responses disappeared or were replaced by longer latency responses when higher frequency stimulations (3-10 Hz) were used. MD-evoked responses were blocked by the iontophoretic application of the AMPA receptor antagonist CNQX into the PFC. These results indicate that the MD-PFC pathway utilizes glutamate and/or aspartate as the neurotransmitter and that its activation induces excitation in PFC neurons through AMPA receptors. Even though the local application of the NMDA receptor antagonist APV was ineffective, a contribution of these receptors in MD-PFC transmission cannot be excluded.

Anatomical and electrophysiological evidence for an excitatory amino acid pathway from the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus to the prefrontal cortex in the rat.

Both dopaminergic (DA) and noradrenergic (NA) systems exert an inhibitory influence on the activity of prefrontal cortical neurons (PFC). As NA-containing fibers run close to the dorsal ventral tegmental area (VTA), electrical stimulation of the VTA might coactivate both DA and NA systems. In the present study extracellular recordings and microiontophoresis were used in anesthetized rats to analyze first whether the inhibitory cortical responses to VTA stimulation and DA application were mediated by DA or adrenergic receptors. Inhibitory responses elicited by DA application or VTA stimulation were observed in PFC output neurons identified by antidromic activation from subcortical structures. Both types of inhibitory effects were reversed by the DA antagonist sulpiride, but not by the adrenergic antagonists prazosin (alpha-1), yohimbine (alpha-2) or propranolol (beta). NA and the beta agonist isoproterenol inhibited the activity of PFC cells and these effects were antagonized by propranolol, but neither by prazosin and yohimbine nor by the DA antagonist sulpiride. Thus, the inhibitory influence of the mesocortical DA system in the PFC involves DA, but not NA, recognition sites. The DA receptor subtype mediating the inhibitory effects of VTA stimulation and DA application in the PFC was analyzed further. VTA- and DA-evoked inhibitory responses were antagonized by the D2 selective antagonists (-)-sulpiride, LUR 2366 and RIV 2093, but not by the D1 selective antagonist SCH23390. In addition, the DA-induced inhibitory response was mimicked by the selective D2 agonist LY 171555 but not by the selective D1 agonist SKF 38393. Surprisingly, haloperidol, which is also a potent D2 antagonist, failed to consistently block DA- and VTA-induced inhibitory effects. The present results indicate that the inhibition of PFC cells by mesocortical DA neurons is mediated via a subtype of DA receptors which is particularly sensitive to benzamides.

Inhibitory influence of the mesocortical dopaminergic neurons on their target cells: electrophysiological and pharmacological characterization.

THE prefrontal cortex (PFC) receives a dopaminergic (DA) innervation from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and is reciprocally connected with the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD). The present study was performed in anaesthetized rats to determine the influence of the mesocortical DA system on excitatory responses evoked in the PFC by stimulation of MD : (1) short latency ( 10 ms) resulting from activation of recurrent collaterals of PFC neurons projecting to MD. Local DA application and VTA stimulation did not affect short latency responses but blocked long latency responses. These results suggest that the mesocortical DA system inhibits excitations by recurrent collaterals of the PFC-MD neurones but not the excitatory MD inputs to the PFC.

S. Pirot

Papers

Inhibitory effects of ventral tegmental area stimulation on the activity of prefrontal cortical neurons: evidence for the involvement of both dopaminergic and GABAergic components.

Anatomical and electrophysiological evidence for an excitatory amino acid pathway from the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus to the prefrontal cortex in the rat.

Inhibitory influence of the mesocortical dopaminergic neurons on their target cells: electrophysiological and pharmacological characterization.

Mediodorsal thalamic evoked responses in the rat prefrontal cortex: influence of the mesocortical DA system.

Excitatory responses evoked in prefrontal cortex by mediodorsal thalamic nucleus stimulation: influence of anaesthesia.