Dopamine (DA) projections from the midbrain (including ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra) to striatum and frontal cortex play a major role in behavioral actions controlled by reward and in the formation of habits. The dopaminergic system is also involved in drug addiction. Using a combination of behavioral analysis, in vivo and in vitro electrophysiological recordings, genetic tools and optogenetics, we analyze the modifications of DA network dynamics in the different steps leading to nicotine addiction, including genetic and environmental factors, and the consequences of these modifications on decision making.
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Can our choices just be driven by chance? To investigate this question, we designed a deterministic setting in which mice reinforce non-repetitive choice sequences, and modeled it using reinforcement learning. Mice progressively increased their choice variability using a memory-free, pseudo-random selection, rather than by learning complex sequences. Our results demonstrate that a decision-making process can self-generate variability and randomness even when the rules governing reward delivery are not stochastic.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/527580v1
Philippe Faure https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=ym9IlFQAAAAJ&hl=fr http://faurelab.cnrs.fr/philippe-faure/
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