Researchers tracked the brain's dopamine reward system and found -- for the first time -- this system flexibly retunes toward the most important goal when faced with multiple competing needs.
While many studies have investigated the neuroscience behind how an animal learns to achieve a goal, such as obtaining water when thirsty, none have understood how animals choose between several competing needs -- until now., used advanced techniques developed by researchers to track the brain's dopamine reward system and found -- for the first time - this system flexibly retunes toward the most important goal when faced with multiple competing needs.
"What we did that was new, to my knowledge, is that we were less interested in how an animal achieves a given objective and more interested in what happens when multiple objectives are on the table," said Jesse Goldberg, associate professor of neurobiology and behavior and senior author of the study.
"It's kind of intuitive, but hadn't explicitly been shown before, that courtship reduces the need for thirst," Goldberg said."And that's important because in a complex and natural environment priorities change as new opportunities arise." The shift was reflected in both the bird's behavior and in the dopamine signal, he said.
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