This coupling interferes with instrumental learning and performance.
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Action dominates valence in the striatum and dopaminergic midbrain.
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Boosting dopamine enhances the dominance of action over valence in the striatum.
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Boosting dopamine decreases the extent of the behavioral coupling between action and valence.
The selection of actions, and the vigor with which they are executed, are influenced by the affective valence of predicted outcomes. This interaction between action and valence significantly influences appropriate and inappropriate choices and is implicated in the expression of psychiatric and neurological abnormalities, including impulsivity and addiction. We review a series of recent human behavioral, neuroimaging, and pharmacological studies whose key design feature is an orthogonal manipulation of action and valence. These studies find that the interaction between the two is subject to the critical influence of dopamine. They also challenge existing views that neural representations in the striatum focus on valence, showing instead a dominance of the anticipation of action.
