Research ReportThalamocortical integration of instrumental learning and performance and their disintegration in addiction☆
Section snippets
Instrumental learning
It has long been recognised that what an animal does is of little use in establishing what that animal has learned; that, whether an animal responds similarly or very differently across conditions, common or quite distinct learning processes could be at play across those conditions (Tolman, 1952, Tolman, 1948). One of the clearest examples of this observation comes from studies of instrumental conditioning in which animals are trained to perform relatively arbitrary actions in order to gain
Instrumental performance
Over and above these learning processes, instrumental conditioning is strongly influenced by a range of performance factors from basic regulatory processes, including motivational manipulations that exert a general arousal or activating effect, to those exerting more selective control, affecting the vigor of, or choice between, specific actions. With regard to these latter specific influences on performance, there are two primary categories: factors that influence the reward value of the
The integration of learning and motivation in the dorsal and ventral streams
In line with the above analysis and by analogy to the functional anatomy of the visual system, we recently suggested that the dorsal and ventral striatal networks through the basal ganglia be considered as two ‘streams’, mediating distinct learning and performance functions in instrumental conditioning (Hart et al., 2014). This suggestion implies that the integration of learning and performance should take place in the integration of these streams. Furthermore, given the motivational and
Implications for studying addiction
These data are, at present, long on promise but, together with the rodent data, they provide some impetus to the hypothesis that deficits in goal-directed action control not only emerge from damage to the circuitry involved in specific learning and performance processes but also to circuits within the MDT and the thalamocortical circuit more generally that we hypothesize mediate the interaction between them. From the perspective of addiction, these ideas point to a potential target for research
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The preparation of this manuscript was supported by a Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council #FL0992409 to BWB and National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation to RWM.