Sub-second dopamine release during cost-benefit decision making. (360G-Wellcome-081212_Z_06_Z)

£219,654

The mesocorticolimbic dopamine system has been central to many accounts of outcome processing and response allocation. Its dysfunction is also implicated in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders from schizophrenia to addiction. To date, however, it remains unknown what precise role dopamine plays in directing optimal decision-making and what the temporal dynamics of its involvement are. To investigate these issues, I intend to learn how to use fast-scan cyclic voltammetry at the University of W ashington to measure dopamine release in discrete regions at sub-second resolution during behaviour. I will first validate an operant effort-based decision-making task at Oxford University; I will then transfer to Seattle and use voltammetry to explore whether moment-by-moment dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens is influenced by expected rewards or response costs. I will next monitor dopamine during cost-benefit decision-making where animals have to decide between investing effort f or large reward or choosing a more easily obtained but less valuable alternative. By electrically evoking dopamine release at discrete times during this behaviour, it will also be possible to test the causal role of dopamine. Finally, I will set up this technique at Oxford and combine voltammetric recordings with cortical inactivation to assess interactions within frontal-subcortical-monoamine circuits during decision-making.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 219654
Applicant Surname Walton
Approval Committee Basic Science Interview Committee
Award Date 2006-12-13T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2006/07
Grant Programme: Title Intermediate Fellowship: Inactive scheme
Internal ID 081212/Z/06/Z
Lead Applicant Prof Mark Walton
Partnership Value 219654
Planned Dates: End Date 2010-02-28T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2007-03-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region South East
Sponsor(s) Prof Nicholas Rawlins