Dopaminergic action prediction errors serve as a value-free teaching signal

Francesca Greenstreet, Hernando Martinez Vergara, Yvonne Johansson, Sthitapranjya Pati, Laura Schwarz, Stephen C. Lenzi, Jesse P. Geerts, Matthew Wisdom, Alina Gubanova, Lars B. Rollik, Jasvin Kaur, Theodore Moskovitz, Joseph Cohen, Emmett Thompson, Troy W. Margrie, Claudia Clopath and Marcus Stephenson-Jones ()
Additional contact information
Francesca Greenstreet: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Hernando Martinez Vergara: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Yvonne Johansson: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Sthitapranjya Pati: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Laura Schwarz: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Stephen C. Lenzi: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Jesse P. Geerts: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Matthew Wisdom: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Alina Gubanova: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Lars B. Rollik: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Jasvin Kaur: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Theodore Moskovitz: University College London
Joseph Cohen: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Emmett Thompson: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Troy W. Margrie: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Claudia Clopath: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London
Marcus Stephenson-Jones: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London

Nature, 2025, vol. 643, issue 8074, 1333-1342

Abstract: Abstract Choice behaviour of animals is characterized by two main tendencies: taking actions that led to rewards and repeating past actions1,2. Theory suggests that these strategies may be reinforced by different types of dopaminergic teaching signals: reward prediction error to reinforce value-based associations and movement-based action prediction errors to reinforce value-free repetitive associations3–6. Here we use an auditory discrimination task in mice to show that movement-related dopamine activity in the tail of the striatum encodes the hypothesized action prediction error signal. Causal manipulations reveal that this prediction error serves as a value-free teaching signal that supports learning by reinforcing repeated associations. Computational modelling and experiments demonstrate that action prediction errors alone cannot support reward-guided learning, but when paired with the reward prediction error circuitry they serve to consolidate stable sound–action associations in a value-free manner. Together we show that there are two types of dopaminergic prediction errors that work in tandem to support learning, each reinforcing different types of association in different striatal areas.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09008-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:643:y:2025:i:8074:d:10.1038_s41586-025-09008-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09008-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().