Long-term reward value coding by midbrain dopamine neurons

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We showed that midbrain dopamine neurons encode long-term value and its expectation errors of future rewards. By using electrophysiological methods and computational simulations based on reinforcement learning theories, we recorded and analyzed dopamine neuron responses in monkeys performing a behavioral task in which they obtained multiple rewards by multi-step actions. We also confirmed that dopamine neurons evolved these activities by learning the task. These functions play an important role in decision-making and action selection to achieve a distant goal.