Publications by authors named "Wouter van Elzelingen"
There is active debate on the role of dopamine in processing aversive stimuli, where inferred roles range from no involvement at all, to signaling an aversive prediction error (APE). Here, we systematically investigate dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core (NAC), which is closely linked to reward prediction errors, in rats exposed to white noise (WN, a versatile, underutilized, aversive stimulus) and its predictive cues. Both induced a negative dopamine ramp, followed by slow signal recovery upon stimulus cessation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDopamine signals in the striatum are critical for motivated behavior. However, their regional specificity and precise information content are actively debated. Dopaminergic projections to the striatum are topographically organized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - Habits develop as automatic behaviors due to repeated actions, with dopamine playing a key role in this process, particularly in specific brain regions like the ventral, dorsomedial, and dorsolateral striatum.
- - In a study with rats over a 10-week training period, dopamine release was measured in these regions, revealing stable dopamine levels during habit formation, challenging previous assumptions about regional shifts in dopamine signaling.
- - Notably, only the dorsomedial striatum showed varying dopamine levels related to habit formation, suggesting that this region, previously linked to non-habitual behavior, has a significant role in establishing habits.