A squad of investigator at theUniversity of Pennsylvaniahave demonstrated that acquire in homo can be modified by stimulating Dopastat - containing neurons within a fussy realm of the brain called the substantia nigra .
Thesubstantia nigrais known to recreate important part in the control of movement and dependance . This complex body part , which is detect in the midbrain , is deep in dopamine - containing ( dopaminergic ) neurons ; these neurons know massivedegenerationin patients with Parkinson ’s disease . By provoke this region , researchersdiscoveredthat the learning process can be alter in homo . In particular , they found that participants became more prepared to double natural action that pass to honor . The squad have put out their results inThe Journal of Neuroscience .
“ brace the substantia nigra as participants received a reward direct them to echo the action that preceded the wages , suggesting that this head area plays an of import function in modulate action - base associative learning,”said Michael Kahana , co - senior author of the study and prof of psychological science at the University of Pennsylvania .
Eleven someone incur deep brain stimulation for Parkinson ’s disease were enroll in the survey . participant were required to select between duet of objects on a estimator screen , one of which would yield a reward in the mannikin of a immediate payment registry noise but the participant were not told which one this was . All they knew was that they had to work out which objects were honorable pick base on the rewards .
The investigator found that if stimulus was given after a choice resulted in reward , the participants were more likely to reprize this pick . While that may seem an obvious outcome , what is interesting is that they would continue to make this natural selection even when the reward was no longer relate with that special option . This mean that those given input actually did worse than those who were not ( 48 % accuracy vs 67 % , severally ) .
“ While we ’ve suspected , based on previous studies in beast model , that these dopaminergic neuron in the substantia nigra flirt an important role in reward scholarship , this is the first study to exhibit in human beings that electric input near these neurons can alter the learning cognitive process , ” said co - aged author of the studyGordon Baltuch . “ This result also has possible clinical implications through modulate pathological reward - based acquisition , for conditions such as substance abuse or problem play , or raise the rehabilitation process in patient role with neurologic deficits . ”
