Correlates of motivation and reward

我们对训练过的大鼠的丘脑核中的62个神经元进行了细胞外记录，以将两种不同的听觉线索与奖励或非奖励联系起来。记录的神经元的一个子集显示出与奖励试验的感觉运动元素相关的放电（在提示呈现和/或运动反应期间）。记录的神经元的重叠子集示出与5-8 Hz范围内的局部场电位θ节律的放电相关性。值得注意的是，同时与任务元素和θ节律性相关的神经元的比例高于偶然的预期（卡方，p < 0.02），表明这两种类型的信息收敛到单个神经元上。目前正在进行进一步的研究，以检查这些相关性的分区域差异，并确定是否收敛发生在核神经元本身，或在其上游的结构。

We made extracellular recordings from 62 neurons in the nucleus accumbens of rats trained to associate two distinct auditory cues with either reward or non-reward. A subset of recorded neurons showed firing that correlated with sensorimotor elements of the rewarded trials (during cue presentation and/or motor responding). An overlapping subset of recorded neurons showed firing correlations with local field potential theta rhythms in the 5-8 Hz range. Notably, the proportion of neurons correlating simultaneously with task elements and with theta rhythmicity was higher than expected by chance (Chi-square, p < 0.02), indicating convergence of these two types of information onto individual accumbens neurons. Further study is ongoing to examine subregional differences in these correlations, and to determine whether convergence occurs in the nucleus accumbens itself, or in structures upstream from it.