Event

Special BBI Seminar-Geoffrey Schoenbaum, The dopaminergic prediction error is not what you may think

Thursday, May 30, 2019
11:00 a.m.
0201 Edward St. John Center

Special BBI Seminar

The dopaminergic prediction error is not what you may think

Dr. Geoffrey Schoenbaum
Branch Chief
National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program

Abstract
Associative learning is driven by prediction errors that occur in response to unexpected outcomes. Dopamine transients correlate with these errors, at least for rewards, however current interpretations limit these biological signals to transmitting errors in so-called cached or model-free value. This influential hypothesis is supported by much correlative data, but several key predictions have remained untested. One is that learning supported by such errors is content-free, consisting only of value and not including any specific information about the predicted future events. Another is that these errors are not elicited by surprising events unless the scalar value represented by those events is not as expected. In my talk, I will describe experiments we have done to directly test these predictions for VTA dopamine neurons recorded in rats. In each case, the results failed to match the straightforward predictions of this popular account and instead were consistent with a much broader view of the role of this biological system in supporting associative learning in the mammalian brain.

Biography
Geoffrey Schoenbaum received his B.A. fromthe University of Georgia in 1989 and his Ph.D. and M.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1994 and 1996, respectively. His work focuses on the neuralcircuits mediating associative learning and decision making and how alterations in these circuits contribute to maladaptive behaviors in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction. Areas of particular interest include the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, striatum, and midbrain dopamine system.

View the flyer: go.umd.edu/schoenbaum