Department of Psychology, Barnard College, New York City, NY, USA.
Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York City, NY, USA.
Sci Adv. 2024 Sep 6;10(36):eadi7137. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi7137.
Contemporary theories guiding the search for neural mechanisms of learning and memory assume that associative learning results from the temporal pairing of cues and reinforcers resulting in coincident activation of associated neurons, strengthening their synaptic connection. While enduring, this framework has limitations: Temporal pairing-based models of learning do not fit with many experimental observations and cannot be used to make quantitative predictions about behavior. Here, we present behavioral data that support an alternative, information-theoretic conception: The amount of information that cues provide about the timing of reward delivery predicts behavior. Furthermore, this approach accounts for the rate and depth of both inhibitory and excitatory learning across paradigms and species. We also show that dopamine release in the ventral striatum reflects cue-predicted changes in reinforcement rates consistent with subjects understanding temporal relationships between task events. Our results reshape the conceptual and biological framework for understanding associative learning.
当代指导学习和记忆的神经机制的理论假设，联想学习是由于线索和强化物的时间配对导致相关神经元的同时激活，从而增强它们的突触连接。虽然持久，但这个框架有其局限性：基于时间配对的学习模型与许多实验观察结果不相符，也不能用于对行为进行定量预测。在这里，我们提出了支持替代信息论概念的行为数据：线索提供关于奖励传递时间的信息量可以预测行为。此外，这种方法可以解释不同范式和物种中抑制和兴奋学习的速度和深度。我们还表明，腹侧纹状体中的多巴胺释放反映了线索预测的强化率变化，这与被试理解任务事件之间的时间关系一致。我们的研究结果重塑了理解联想学习的概念和生物学框架。
