Dopamine modulation in the basal ganglia locks the gate to working memory.

Full Abstract

The prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia are deeply implicated in working memory. Both structures are subject to dopaminergic neuromodulation in a way that exerts a critical influence on the proper operation of working memory. We present a novel network model to elucidate the role of phasic dopamine in the interaction of these two structures in initiating and maintaining mnemonic activity. We argue that neuromodulation plays a critical role in protecting memories against both internal and external sources of noise. Increases in cortical gain engendered by prefrontal dopamine release help make memories robust against external distraction, but do not offer protection against internal noise accompanying recurrent cortical activity. Rather, the output of the basal ganglia provides the gating function of stabilization against noise and distraction by enhancing select memories through targeted disinhibition of cortex. Dopamine in the basal ganglia effectively locks this gate by influencing the stability of up and down states in the striatum. Dopamine's involvement in affective processing endows this gating with specificity to motivational salience. We model a spatial working memory task and show that these combined effects of dopamine lead to superior performance.

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Author information

Author/s: Gruber, Aaron J (AJ); Dayan, Peter (P); Gutkin, Boris S (BS); Solla, Sara A (SA);

Affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. grubera(-atsign-)mail.amc.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of computational neuroscience (J Comput Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Apr; vol 20 (issue 2) : pp 153-66

Dates: Created 2006/05/15; Completed 2006/06/30; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16699839, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Action Potentials - physiology
Animals
Attention - physiology
Basal Ganglia - physiology
Dopamine - physiology
Emotions - physiology
Humans
Memory, Short-Term - physiology

Models, Neurological
Motivation
Neural Inhibition - physiology
Neural Networks (Computer)
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurons - physiology
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Synaptic Transmission - physiology

Associated Chemicals: Dopamine (51-61-6)

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