Toggle light / dark theme

Neural maps used to locate rewards may be disrupted in dementia and heightened in addiction

Imagine you’re walking to work when the unspeakable occurs: Your favorite coffee shop—where you stop every day—is closed. You groggily navigate to a newly opened coffee shop a couple blocks away, which, you’re pleased to discover, actually makes quite a good morning brew. Soon, you find yourself looking forward to stopping at the new location instead of the old one.

That switch probably alters more than just your morning routine. Each time you visit that new coffee shop, the experience likely strengthens a neural map marking the positions of rewarding experiences—a map that can guide you back to those experiences even from miles away.

While the existence of a reward map is familiar from previous work, Wu Tsai Neuro researchers working with were surprised to find that the map persists even when mice move many meters away from a treat, and that it updates almost immediately when the of the treat changes.

Leave a Comment

Lifeboat Foundation respects your privacy! Your email address will not be published.