← Giant Brain Candy
Giant Brain Candy: Dopamine Loves a Surprise. In monkeys, dopamine neurons fire when a reward beats expectations, stay quiet when it is fully predicted, and dip when an expected reward fails to arrive. Source: Reward prediction error.
Strong evidenceThe research
  1. Schultz, W., Dayan, P., & Montague, P. R. (1997). A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science, 275(5306), 1593–1599.

Journey 6 · Empowerment

Dopamine Loves a Surprise

In monkeys, dopamine neurons fire when a reward beats expectations, stay quiet when it is fully predicted, and dip when an expected reward fails to arrive.

Source: Reward prediction error · Strong evidence

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