Mark E. Walton
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View article: Gabapentinoids promote striatal dopamine release and rescue multiple deficits of a mouse model of early Parkinson’s
Gabapentinoids promote striatal dopamine release and rescue multiple deficits of a mouse model of early Parkinson’s Open
Neuronal entry and handling of intracellular calcium have long-been hypothesised to burden vulnerable dopamine neurons in Parkinson’s disease. However, no treatments for Parkinson’s target calcium biology. Gabapentinoid drugs bind to α 2 δ…
View article: Do goldfish like to be informed?
Do goldfish like to be informed? Open
Like humans, several mammalian and avian species prefer foretold over unsignalled future events, even if the information is costly and confers no direct benefit. It is unclear whether this is an epiphenomenon of basic associative learning …
View article: Under pressure: UK preclinical neuroscience at a crossroads
Under pressure: UK preclinical neuroscience at a crossroads Open
Graphical Abstract.
View article: Reward Bases: A simple mechanism for adaptive acquisition of multiple reward types
Reward Bases: A simple mechanism for adaptive acquisition of multiple reward types Open
Animals can adapt their preferences for different types of reward according to physiological state, such as hunger or thirst. To explain this ability, we employ a simple multi-objective reinforcement learning model that learns multiple val…
View article: Impaired striatal glutathione–ascorbate metabolism induces transient dopamine increase and motor dysfunction
Impaired striatal glutathione–ascorbate metabolism induces transient dopamine increase and motor dysfunction Open
Identifying initial triggering events in neurodegenerative disorders is critical to developing preventive therapies. In Huntington’s disease (HD), hyperdopaminergia—probably triggered by the dysfunction of the most affected neurons, indire…
View article: Do goldfish like to be informed?
Do goldfish like to be informed? Open
Most mammalian and avian species tested so far, including humans, prefer foretold over unsignalled future events, even if the information is costly and confers no direct benefit, a phenomenon that has been called paradoxical, or suboptimal…
View article: CAnceR IN PreGnancy (CARING) – a retrospective study of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy in the United Kingdom
CAnceR IN PreGnancy (CARING) – a retrospective study of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy in the United Kingdom Open
Background The incidence of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy is increasing. Data relating to investigation and management, as well as maternal and foetal outcomes is lacking in a United Kingdom (UK) population. Methods In this retrospecti…
View article: Lasting dynamic effects of the psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine ((±)-DOI) on cognitive flexibility
Lasting dynamic effects of the psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine ((±)-DOI) on cognitive flexibility Open
Psychedelic drugs can aid fast and lasting remission from various neuropsychiatric disorders, though the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Preclinical studies suggest serotonergic psychedelics enhance neuronal plasticity, but whether n…
View article: Dopamine-independent effect of rewards on choices through hidden-state inference
Dopamine-independent effect of rewards on choices through hidden-state inference Open
Dopamine is implicated in adaptive behavior through reward prediction error (RPE) signals that update value estimates. There is also accumulating evidence that animals in structured environments can use inference processes to facilitate be…
View article: A Cellular Basis for Mapping Behavioural Structure
A Cellular Basis for Mapping Behavioural Structure Open
To flexibly adapt to new situations, our brains must understand the regularities in the world, but also in our own patterns of behaviour. A wealth of findings is beginning to reveal the algorithms we use to map the outside world 1–6 . In c…
View article: Hierarchical encoding of reward, effort and choice across the cortex and basal ganglia during cost-benefit decision making
Hierarchical encoding of reward, effort and choice across the cortex and basal ganglia during cost-benefit decision making Open
Adaptive value-guided decision-making requires weighing up the costs and benefits of pursuing an available opportunity. Though neurons across frontal cortical-basal ganglia circuits have been repeatedly shown to represent decision-related …
View article: Lesions to the mediodorsal thalamus but not orbitofrontal cortex enhance volatility beliefs linked to paranoia
Lesions to the mediodorsal thalamus but not orbitofrontal cortex enhance volatility beliefs linked to paranoia Open
Beliefs – attitudes toward some state of the environment – guide action selection and should be robust to variability but sensitive to meaningful change. Beliefs about volatility (expectation of change) are associated with paranoia in huma…
View article: Lasting dynamic effects of the psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine ((±)-DOI) on cognitive flexibility
Lasting dynamic effects of the psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine ((±)-DOI) on cognitive flexibility Open
Psychedelic drugs can aid fast and lasting remission from various neuropsychiatric disorders, though the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Preclinical studies suggest serotonergic psychedelics enhance neuronal plasticity, but whether n…
View article: Reward-Bases: Dopaminergic Mechanisms for Adaptive Acquisition of Multiple Reward Types
Reward-Bases: Dopaminergic Mechanisms for Adaptive Acquisition of Multiple Reward Types Open
Animals can adapt their preferences for different types for reward according to physiological state, such as hunger or thirst. To describe this ability, we propose a simple extension of temporal difference model that learns multiple values…
View article: Neural responses in macaque prefrontal cortex are linked to strategic exploration
Neural responses in macaque prefrontal cortex are linked to strategic exploration Open
Humans have been shown to strategically explore. They can identify situations in which gathering information about distant and uncertain options is beneficial for the future. Because primates rely on scarce resources when they forage, they…
View article: Glutamatergic dysfunction leads to a hyper-dopaminergic phenotype through deficits in short-term habituation: a mechanism for aberrant salience
Glutamatergic dysfunction leads to a hyper-dopaminergic phenotype through deficits in short-term habituation: a mechanism for aberrant salience Open
Psychosis in disorders like schizophrenia is commonly associated with aberrant salience and elevated striatal dopamine. However, the underlying cause(s) of this hyper-dopaminergic state remain elusive. Various lines of evidence point to gl…
View article: Strategic exploration in the macaque’s prefrontal cortex
Strategic exploration in the macaque’s prefrontal cortex Open
Humans have been shown to strategically explore. They can identify situations in which gathering information about distant and uncertain options is beneficial for the future. Because primates rely on scare resources when they forage, they …
View article: Nucleus accumbens D1-receptors regulate and focus transitions to reward-seeking action
Nucleus accumbens D1-receptors regulate and focus transitions to reward-seeking action Open
It is well established that dopamine transmission is integral in mediating the influence of reward expectations on reward-seeking actions. However, the precise causal role of dopamine transmission in moment-to-moment reward-motivated behav…
View article: Reward Bases: Instantaneous reward revaluation with temporal difference learning
Reward Bases: Instantaneous reward revaluation with temporal difference learning Open
A bstract An influential theory posits that dopaminergic neurons in the mid-brain implement a model-free reinforcement learning algorithm based on temporal difference (TD) learning. A fundamental assumption of this model is that the reward…
View article: Open-source, Python-based, hardware and software for controlling behavioural neuroscience experiments
Open-source, Python-based, hardware and software for controlling behavioural neuroscience experiments Open
Laboratory behavioural tasks are an essential research tool. As questions asked of behaviour and brain activity become more sophisticated, the ability to specify and run richly structured tasks becomes more important. An increasing focus o…
View article: Complementary task representations in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex for generalising the structure of problems
Complementary task representations in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex for generalising the structure of problems Open
Data folder includes two subfolders: 1) training: behavioural training data for each animal and 2) data_recordings: data from the recording phase. data_recordings includes raw firing rates and trial information for hippocampal (HP.mat) and…