Ridderinkhof, K. R. 1, 2 , van Wouwe, N. C. 3 , Band, G. P. 3 , van de Vijver, I. 1 , van den Wildenberg, W. P. 1 & Wylie, S. A. 4
1 Amsterdam center for the study of adaptive control in brain and behaviour (Acacia), Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
2 Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam
3 Leiden University Institute of Psychology, University of Leiden
4 Neurology Department, University of Virginia Health Systems, Virginia, USA
Feedback-based learning refers to the process of learning to select those actions that lead to rewards while avoiding actions that lead to punishments. This process, known to rely on dopaminergic activity in striatal brain regions, is compromised in healthy aging and in Parkinson Disease (PD). We hypothesized that such decision-learning deficits are moderated by factors that improve frontostriatal dopaminergic activity. Computational measures of probabilistic feedback-based learning have been shown to rely on the nucleus caudatus (outcome evaluation during the early phases of learning) and the putamen (reward prediction during later phases of learning). We observed that various dopamine boosters (including induced positive affect, dopamine agonists, and deep brain stimulation) facilitated learning, through its effects on reward prediction rather than outcome evaluation. For instance, watching a few minutes of comedy clips served to remedy dopamine-related problems in putamen-based frontostriatal circuitry and, consequently, in learning to predict which actions will yield reward.