In the associated paper (Gurney et al, PLoS Biology, 2015) we presented a computational framework that addresses several issues in cortico-striatal plasticity including spike timing, reward timing, dopamine level, and dopamine receptor type. Thus, we derived a complete model of dopamine and spike-timing dependent cortico-striatal plasticity from in vitro data. We then showed this model produces the predicted activity changes necessary for learning and extinction in an operant task. Moreover, we showed the complex dependencies of cortico-striatal plasticity are not only sufficient but necessary for learning and extinction. The model was validated in a wider setting of action selection in basal ganglia, showing how it could account for behavioural data describing extinction, renewal, and reacquisition, and replicate in vitro experimental data on cortico-striatal plasticity. The code supplied here allows reproduction of the proposed process of learning in medium spiny neurons, giving the results of Figure 7 of the paper.
Model Type: Neuron or other electrically excitable cell
Cell Type(s): Neostriatum medium spiny direct pathway GABA cell; Neostriatum medium spiny indirect pathway GABA cell; Neostriatum spiny neuron; Abstract Izhikevich neuron
Transmitters: Dopamine
Model Concept(s): Synaptic Plasticity; Learning; Reinforcement Learning; STDP; Reward-modulated STDP
Simulation Environment: MATLAB
Implementer(s): Gurney, Kevin [K.Gurney at shef.ac.uk]
References:
Gurney KN, Humphries MD, Redgrave P. (2015). A new framework for cortico-striatal plasticity: behavioural theory meets in vitro data at the reinforcement-action interface. PLoS biology. 13 [PubMed]