The136th KARC Colloquium

Date&Time	23 July 2019(Tue) 14:00-
Place	TV conference room2, 3F, Research Building 2, Advanced ICT Research Institute
Lecturer	A normative perspective on diversities of dopamine neurons
Speaker	Prof. Naoshige Uchida Harvard University, USA
Abstract	Midbrain dopamine neurons play important roles in learning, motivation and movements. It has long been thought that dopamine neurons broadcast a reward prediction error signal to drive learning to predict future outcomes. Recent studies have shown, however, that the signals sent by dopamine neurons are more diverse than previously thought. For instance, some dopamine neurons are activated by threatening stimuli but not by reward. The activity of some dopamine neurons may be correlated with movement kinematics (e.g. speed) or the distance to a reward location (or motivational value) but not with reward prediction errors. These results have been taken as evidence challenging the canonical view of dopamine signals based on reward prediction errors. In this talk, I will try to present a normative perspective on these diverse dopamine signals under the framework of reinforcement learning theory.
Language	Japanese
Admission	Free
Organizer	Motojiro Yoshihara, Chief researcher, Drosophila Synaptic plasticity/memory team, Frontier Creative Research laboratory, KARC, NICT