Dopamine Supports Reward Prediction to Shape Reward-Pursuit Strategy

Reward predictions not only promote reward pursuit, they also shape how reward is pursed. Such predictions are supported by environmental cues that signal reward availability and probability. Such cues trigger dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core (NAc). Thus, here we used dopamine sensor fiber photometry, cell-type and pathway-specific optogenetic inhibition, pavlovian cue-reward conditioning, and test of cue-induced reward-pursuit strategy in male and female rats to ask whether cue-evoked phasic dopamine release is shaped by reward prediction to support reward pursuit. We found that cue-evoked NAc core dopamine is positively shaped by reward prediction and inversely relates to and predicts instrumental reward seeking. Cues that predicted imminent reward with high probability triggered a large NAc dopamine response, and this was associated checking for the expected reward in the delivery location rather than instrumental reward seeking. Cues that predicted reward with low probability elicited less dopamine, and this was associated with a bias toward seeking rather than checking for reward. Correspondingly, inhibition of cue-evoked NAc dopamine increased instrumental reward seeking and decreased reward-checking behavior. Thus, transient, cue-evoked NAc core dopamine release supports reward prediction to shape reward-pursuit strategy.