Dopamine appear to play a central role in cost-benefit analysis[1]. It seems to be part of the reward sytem There appear to be multiple dopamine-sensitive decision regions.
Dopamine depletion in ventral striatum reduces propensity for physical effort [2] D1 (dopamine 1) receptor blockade in ACC reduces preference for expending effort for rats[3].It is non-discriminative between reward types, dopaminergic firing in VTA does appear to reflect subjective (action) value with integrated responses to both delay and reward amount[4]. Dopaminergic neurons send diffuse projections to striatum (nigrostriatal pathway) and prefrontal cortex (mesocortical pathway) and thereby transmit a pleasure values or teaching signal to a variety of brain regions, for learning, stimulus evaluation, and directed action. [5].
References
- ↑ Phillips PEM, Walton ME, Jhou TC. Calculating utility: Preclinical evidence for cost– benefit analysis by mesolimbic dopamine. Psychopharmacology. 2007;191: 483– 495.
- ↑ Salamone JD, Correa M, Farrar A, Mingote SM. Effort-related functions of nucleus accumbens dopamine and associated forebrain circuits. Psychopharmacology. 2007;191: 461– 482.
- ↑ Schweimer J, Hauber W. Dopamine D1 receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex regulate effort-based decision-making. Learning & Memory. 2006;13: 777–782
- ↑ Roesch MR, Calu DJ, Schoenbaum G. Dopamine neurons encode the better option in rats deciding between differently delayed or sized rewards. Nature Neuroscience. 2007;10: 1615– 1624.
- ↑ Volkow ND, Wang GJ, Telang F, et al. Dopamine increases in striatum do not elicit craving in cocaine abusers unless they are coupled with cocaine cues. NeuroImage. 2008;39: 1266– 1273)