The Dopaminergic Midbrain Encodes the Expected Certainty about Desired Outcomes

• Published in: Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991) Vol. 25; no. 10; pp. 3434 - 3445
• Main Authors: Schwartenbeck, Philipp, FitzGerald, Thomas H. B., Mathys, Christoph, Dolan, Ray, Friston, Karl
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Bayes Theorem; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Choice Behavior - physiology; Conflict (Psychology); Dopamine - physiology; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Risk; Substantia Nigra - physiology; Ventral Tegmental Area - physiology; Young Adult; neuroeconomics; active inference; dopamine; confidence; precision

Dopamine plays a key role in learning; however, its exact function in decision making and choice remains unclear. Recently, we proposed a generic model based on active (Bayesian) inference wherein dopamine encodes the precision of beliefs about optimal policies. Put simply, dopamine discharges refle...