By Neuroscience News
A novel study suggests that dopamine, a neurotransmitter, plays dual roles in learning and motivation.
In the study, male rats underwent Pavlovian or operant conditioning while their dopamine release was measured.
It was found that in both conditioning types, rats released dopamine when exposed to a reward-predictive cue.
However, only in the operant-conditioning group was a sustained plateau of dopamine observed, indicating a possible link to motivation.