Peter D. Balsam
YOU?
Author Swipe
View article: Impact of temporal uncertainty on sign-tracking behavior.
Impact of temporal uncertainty on sign-tracking behavior. Open
Sign-tracking behavior, also known as "autoshaping," is defined as the approach and interaction with reward-predictive cues. It is associated with addiction-related phenotypes and compulsive behavior. Several previous studies have demonstr…
View article: Impact of Temporal Uncertainty on Sign-tracking Behavior
Impact of Temporal Uncertainty on Sign-tracking Behavior Open
Sign-tracking behavior, also known as “autoshaping”, is defined as approach and interaction with reward-predictive cues. It is associated with addiction-related phenotypes and compulsive behavior. Several previous studies have demonstrated…
View article: Both probability and rate of reinforcement can affect the acquisition and maintenance of conditioned responses.
Both probability and rate of reinforcement can affect the acquisition and maintenance of conditioned responses. Open
In Pavlovian conditioning, the strength of a conditioned response is a function of the probability of reinforcement. However, manipulations of probability are often confounded with changes in the rate of reinforcement. Two between-group ex…
View article: Learning depends on the information conveyed by temporal relationships between events and is reflected in the dopamine response to cues
Learning depends on the information conveyed by temporal relationships between events and is reflected in the dopamine response to cues Open
Contemporary theories guiding the search for neural mechanisms of learning and memory assume that associative learning results from the temporal pairing of cues and reinforcers resulting in coincident activation of associated neurons, stre…
View article: Automated device for simultaneous photometry and electrophysiology in freely moving animals
Automated device for simultaneous photometry and electrophysiology in freely moving animals Open
Photometry and electrophysiology are powerful tools for investigating brain-behavior relationships. Combining these techniques would allow us to ask previously un-addressable questions, such as how neuromodulators impact neuronal firing ra…
View article: Inhibition of striatal indirect pathway during second postnatal week leads to long lasting deficits in motivated behavior
Inhibition of striatal indirect pathway during second postnatal week leads to long lasting deficits in motivated behavior Open
Schizophrenia is a neuropsychiatric disorder with postulated neurodevelopmental etiology. Genetic and imaging studies have shown enhanced dopamine and D2 receptor occupancy in the striatum of patients with schizophrenia. However, whether a…
View article: Dopamine transporter blockade during adolescence increases adult dopamine function, impulsivity, and aggression
Dopamine transporter blockade during adolescence increases adult dopamine function, impulsivity, and aggression Open
Sensitive developmental periods shape neural circuits and enable adaptation. However, they also engender vulnerability to factors that can perturb developmental trajectories. An understanding of sensitive period phenomena and mechanisms se…
View article: Dopamine D2 receptors in nucleus accumbens cholinergic interneurons increase impulsive choice
Dopamine D2 receptors in nucleus accumbens cholinergic interneurons increase impulsive choice Open
Impulsive choice, often characterized by excessive preference for small, short-term rewards over larger, long-term rewards, is a prominent feature of substance use and other neuropsychiatric disorders. The neural mechanisms underlying impu…
View article: Temporal encoding: Relative and absolute representations of time guide behavior.
Temporal encoding: Relative and absolute representations of time guide behavior. Open
Temporal information-processing is critical for adaptive behavior and goal-directed action. It is thus crucial to understand how the temporal distance between behaviorally relevant events is encoded to guide behavior. However, research on …
View article: Temporal scaling and computing time in neural circuits: Should we stop watching the clock and look for its gears?
Temporal scaling and computing time in neural circuits: Should we stop watching the clock and look for its gears? Open
Timing underlies a variety of functions, from walking to perceiving causality. Neural timing models typically fall into one of two categories—“ramping” and “population-clock” theories. According to ramping models, individual neurons track …
View article: A role for reward valuation in the serotonergic modulation of impulsivity
A role for reward valuation in the serotonergic modulation of impulsivity Open
Rationale Impulsive behavior is a deleterious component of a number of mental health disorders but has few targeted pharmacotherapies. One contributing factor to the difficulty in understanding the neural substrates of disordered impulsivi…
View article: Dopamine D2R upregulation in ventral striatopallidal neurons does not affect Pavlovian or go/no-go learning.
Dopamine D2R upregulation in ventral striatopallidal neurons does not affect Pavlovian or go/no-go learning. Open
Ventral striatal dopamine is thought to be important for associative learning. Dopamine exerts its role via activation of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the ventral striatum. Upregulation of dopamine D2R in ventral striatopallidal neurons…
View article: Prior Experience Modifies Acquisition Trajectories Via Response-Strategy Sampling
Prior Experience Modifies Acquisition Trajectories Via Response-Strategy Sampling Open
Few studies have considered how signal detection parameters evolve during acquisition periods. We addressed this gap by training mice with differential prior experience in a conditional discrimination, auditory signal detection task. Naïve…
View article: Inhibition of Mediodorsal Thalamus Disrupts Thalamofrontal Connectivity and Cognition
Inhibition of Mediodorsal Thalamus Disrupts Thalamofrontal Connectivity and Cognition Open
Cognitive deficits are central to schizophrenia but the underlying mechanisms still remain unclear. Imaging studies performed in patients point to decreased activity in the medio-dorsal thalamus (MD) and reduced functional connectivity bet…
View article: Cortical Processing of Multimodal Sensory Learning in Human Neonates
Cortical Processing of Multimodal Sensory Learning in Human Neonates Open
Following birth, infants must immediately process and rapidly adapt to the array of unknown sensory experiences associated with their new ex-utero environment. However, although it is known that unimodal stimuli induce activity in the corr…
View article: Dopamine D2 receptors modulate the cholinergic pause and inhibitory learning
Dopamine D2 receptors modulate the cholinergic pause and inhibitory learning Open
Cholinergic interneurons (CINs) in the striatum respond to salient stimuli with a multiphasic response, including a pause, in neuronal activity. Slice physiology experiments have shown the importance of dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) in regu…
View article: Temporal Encoding: Relative and absolute representations of time guide behavior
Temporal Encoding: Relative and absolute representations of time guide behavior Open
Temporal information-processing is critical for adaptive behavior and goal-directed action. It is thus crucial to understand how the temporal distance between behaviorally relevant events is encoded to guide behavior. However, research on …
View article: Dopamine D2R upregulation in nucleus accumbens indirect pathway does not affect Pavlovian or Go/No-Go Learning
Dopamine D2R upregulation in nucleus accumbens indirect pathway does not affect Pavlovian or Go/No-Go Learning Open
Ventral striatal dopamine is thought to be important for associative learning. Dopamine exerts its role via activation of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the ventral striatum. Upregulation of dopamine D2R in the indirect pathway of the nuc…
View article: Dissociating the effects of dopamine D2 receptors on effort-based versus value-based decision making using a novel behavioral approach.
Dissociating the effects of dopamine D2 receptors on effort-based versus value-based decision making using a novel behavioral approach. Open
Cost-benefit decision making is essential for organisms to adapt to their ever-changing environment. Most studies of cost-benefit decision making involve choice conditions in which effort and value are varied simultaneously. This prevents …
View article: Evidence for a Mixed Timing and Counting Strategy in Mice Performing a Mechner Counting Task
Evidence for a Mixed Timing and Counting Strategy in Mice Performing a Mechner Counting Task Open
Numerosity, or the ability to understand and distinguish between discrete quantities, was first formalized for study in animals by Mechner (1958a). Rats had to press one lever (the counting lever) n times to arm food release from pressing …
View article: Emerging roles of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in motivated behaviour: Implications for psychiatric disorders
Emerging roles of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in motivated behaviour: Implications for psychiatric disorders Open
Impaired motivation has been a long recognized negative symptom of schizophrenia, as well as a common feature of non‐psychotic psychiatric disorders, responsible for a significant share of functional burden, and with limited treatment opti…
View article: Time-scale-invariant information-theoretic contingencies in discrimination learning.
Time-scale-invariant information-theoretic contingencies in discrimination learning. Open
Animals optimize their behavior to maximize rewards by utilizing cues from the environment. In discrimination learning, cues signal when rewards can and cannot be earned by making a particular response. In our experiment, we trained male m…
View article: Overexpression of striatal D2 receptors reduces motivation thereby decreasing food anticipatory activity
Overexpression of striatal D2 receptors reduces motivation thereby decreasing food anticipatory activity Open
Dopamine has been implicated in circadian timing underlying the food entrainable oscillator ( FEO ) circuitry and overexpression of the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) in the striatum has been reported to reduce motivation to obtain food reward…