Author(s): Carter F; Cossette MP; Trujillo-Pisanty I; Pallikaras V; Breton YA; Conover K; Caplan J; Solis P; Voisard J; Yaksich A; Shizgal P; ...

Phasic dopamine activity is believed to both encode reward-prediction errors (RPEs) and to cause the adaptations that these errors engender. If so, a rat working for optogenetic stimulation of dopa ...

Article GUID: 38039083

Author(s): Pallikaras V; Mac Cionnaith CE; Rosales VCF; Arvanitogiannis A; Pfaus JG;

Rationale: Exposure to rewards can alter behavioral reactivity to them. For example, stimulants sensitize locomotor activation, whereas sexual experience sensitizes copulatory behaviors. Moreover, rewards can cross-sensitize one another. Although stimulants ...

Article GUID: 36544054

Author(s): Pallikaras V; Shizgal P;

Major depressive disorder is a leading cause of disability and suicide worldwide. Consecutive rounds of conventional interventions are ineffective in a significant sub-group of patients whose disorder is classified as treatment-resistant depression. Signifi ...

Article GUID: 36009115

Author(s): Pallikaras V; Shizgal P;

Deep-brain stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) can provide effective, enduring relief of treatment-resistant depression. Panksepp provided an explanatory framework: the MFB constitutes the core of the neural circuitry subserving the anticipatio ...

Article GUID: 35431828

Author(s): Pallikaras V; Carter F; Velazquez-Martinez DN; Arvanitogiannis A; Shizgal P;

Optogenetic experiments reveal functional roles of specific neurons. However, functional inferences have been limited by widespread adoption of a restricted set of stimulation parameters. Broader exploration of the parameter space can deepen insight into th ...

Article GUID: 34864162