Dopamine release drives motivation, independently from dopamine cell firing

Despite decades of study, fundamental aspects of dopamine biology are still being revealed.

Dopamine release in the forebrain has at least two distinct functions: it invigorates current behavior (motivation) [1] and influences future behavior (learning) [2]. The learning role seems, at least in part, to involve brief bursts of dopamine cell firing signaling reward prediction errors [3]. This “phasic” dopamine signal helps adjust future reward expectations, through the modification of synaptic strengths in forebrain targets [4]. This is a compelling account of reinforcement learning mechanisms, but does not describe how dopamine achieves more immediate motivational functions.

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