Notes

Some Major Psychological Components of Processing Reward Stimuli The Innate and Learning responses underlying reward systems are the same of the aversive stimuli learning. However, experiments show that Pavlovian to Operant Transfer is possible, i.e., mice can learn to combine the two types of stimuli to reach the reward.

Pavlovian Reward Learning: Importance of VTA-NAc Dopamine Neurons

Pavlovian learning involves acquisition by a neutral stimulus of the emotional properties of an US based on their close temporal association. Dopamine neurons responding to UCS (Uncoditioned Reward Stimulus): High VTA Dopamine Neuron Burst firing. Once the association is learned, dopamine neurons respond shifts towards the conditioned stimulus (CS) and only slightly fire when reward is delivered. Thus, dopamine neurons respond to "Reward Prediction Error".