Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Cornell Neurotech, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Department of Neuroscience, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada.
Curr Biol. 2022 Oct 24;32(20):4325-4336.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.016. Epub 2022 Aug 31.
Survival requires both the ability to persistently pursue goals and the ability to determine when it is time to stop, an adaptive balance of perseverance and disengagement. Neural activity in the lateral habenula (LHb) has been linked to negative valence, but its role in regulating the balance between engaged reward seeking and disengaged behavioral states remains unclear. Here, we show that LHb neural activity is tonically elevated during minutes-long periods of disengagement from reward-seeking behavior, both when due to repeated reward omission (negative valence) and when sufficient reward has been consumed (positive valence). Furthermore, we show that LHb inhibition extends ongoing reward-seeking behavioral states but does not prompt task re-engagement. We find no evidence for similar tonic activity changes in ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons. Our findings support a framework in which tonic activity in LHb neurons suppresses engagement in reward-seeking behavior in response to both negatively and positively valenced factors.
生存既需要坚持不懈地追求目标的能力，也需要能够确定何时停止的能力，这是一种坚持不懈和脱离的自适应平衡。外侧缰核（LHb）中的神经活动与负价有关，但它在调节投入奖励寻求和脱离行为状态之间的平衡中的作用尚不清楚。在这里，我们表明，LHb 神经活动在长时间脱离奖励寻求行为期间持续升高，无论是由于反复的奖励缺失（负价）还是由于已经消耗了足够的奖励（正价）。此外，我们表明 LHb 抑制会延长正在进行的奖励寻求行为状态，但不会促使任务重新参与。我们没有发现腹侧被盖区多巴胺神经元中存在类似的紧张活动变化的证据。我们的发现支持了这样一种框架，即 LHb 神经元的紧张活动抑制了对正负价因素的奖励寻求行为的参与。
