RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Noradrenaline and Dopamine Neurons in the Reward/Effort Trade-Off: A Direct Electrophysiological Comparison in Behaving Monkeys
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 7866
OP 7877
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0454-15.2015
VO 35
IS 20
A1 Varazzani, Chiara
A1 San-Galli, Aurore
A1 Gilardeau, Sophie
A1 Bouret, Sebastien
YR 2015
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/20/7866.abstract
AB Motivation determines multiple aspects of behavior, including action selection and energization of behavior. Several components of the underlying neural systems have been examined closely, but the specific role of the different neuromodulatory systems in motivation remains unclear. Here, we compare directly the activity of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra pars compacta and noradrenergic neurons from the locus coeruleus in monkeys performing a task manipulating the reward/effort trade-off. Consistent with previous reports, dopaminergic neurons encoded the expected reward, but we found that they also anticipated the upcoming effort cost in connection with its negative influence on action selection. Conversely, the firing of noradrenergic neurons increased with both pupil dilation and effort production in relation to the energization of behavior. Therefore, this work underlines the contribution of dopamine to effort-based decision making and uncovers a specific role of noradrenaline in energizing behavior to face challenges.