The superior colliculus gates dopamine responses to conditioned stimuli in visual classical conditioning.
Paper
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The authors' code
MATLAB · 25 lines · 599 B · no license
- prepb=zeros(4000,2); %calculate average curve of pairing and baseline
- for i=1:2
- for k=1:4000
- for j=1:30
- prepb(k,i)=prepb(k,i)+V110519_lfp_stim(i*2-1,k,j)/30;
- end
- end
- end
- for i=1:2 %calculate pairing minus baseline
- a=mean(prepb(1:1000,i));
- prepb(1:4000,i)=prepb(1:4000,i)-a;
- end
- p_b(1:4000,1)=prepb(1:4000,2)-prepb(1:4000,1);
- miniy=min(p_b(2300:2800));
- for i=2300:2800
- if p_b(i)==miniy
- minix=i;
- end
- end
- min70=mean(p_b(minix-4:minix+4));
calculate pairing minus baseline and certain values.m at commit a79fb64, no license · at the source
Overview
- Department of Anatomy and the Brain Health Research Centre, Brain Research New Zealand, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, Hatherly Laboratories, Exeter, UK
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Abstract
In classical Pavlovian conditioning, it is well-established that midbrain dopamine neurons respond to conditioned stimuli (CS) that predict a reward. However, how the dopamine neurons associate a neutral CS to a reward remains unknown. Here, we show that in male rats and in both male and female mice, the superior colliculus (SC) develops neuronal responses to a visual CS during conditioning, which in turn drive the responses of dopamine neurons. Visual responses in the SC were only potentiated when a behaviorally meaningful time interval separated the visual stimulus and reward. Potentiation also required the convergence of visual, dopamine and serotonin inputs to the SC. Importantly, blocking potentiation of the visual response was sufficient to suppress the dopamine responses following a CS. These results reveal a mechanism for how the brain forms associations between unconditioned stimuli and behaviorally meaningful visual information during classical conditioning.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Repository
Its files are read in the Code ↔ Paper reader above.
Yanfeng-Zhang/SC-gates-visual-classcial-conditioning
a79fb641d9034cea0b093b454241e994824abb35, 29 March 2026Availability: 1 check, the latest on 30 September 2026: the link answers
- 30 September 2026: the link answers
6 files
- calculate pairing minus baseline and certain values.m, MATLAB, 25 lines
- combine results to draw fig.m, MATLAB, 18 lines
- normalize minis with few average.m, MATLAB, 31 lines
- normalize minis.m, MATLAB, 19 lines
- sort five 5min file to 1 matrix.m, MATLAB, 28 lines
- README.md, Text, 60 lines
Code availability
The code used in this study is available from GitHub (https://
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Tracing map
Proposed by the machine: these links were found in the paper and verified at the source, without human review. The map will receive a Zenodo DOI once one of the paper's authors has validated it with their ORCID.
What the map holds:
- 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit, with its license and how the link was found in the paper;
- 5 scripts, each with its path and the digest of its content;
- no match between paragraphs and code yet;
- neither the text of the paper nor the code itself.
Its JSON (tracing-map.json) is deposited on Zenodo with its DOI once the map is validated.
Data
Datasets cited
- zenodo:3925937, at Zenodo; found in the text, “Rewarding midbrain dopamine stimulation also…”
Data availability
Null Source data are provided with this paper.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.
Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 10 authors, 2 keywords, 13 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 41 references.
Cite
This paper
Zhang, Y.-F., Dufour, J.-P., Zatka-Haas, P., Redgrave, P., Black, M. J., Lak, A., Mann, E., Cragg, S. J., Abraham, W. C., & Reynolds, J. N. (2026). The superior colliculus gates dopamine responses to conditioned stimuli in visual classical conditioning. Nature communications, 17(1), 5885. https://
BibTeX
@article{zhang2026superi
author = {Zhang, Yan-Feng and Dufour, Jean-Philippe and Zatka-Haas, Peter and Redgrave, Peter and Black, Melony J and Lak, Armin and Mann, Ed and Cragg, Stephanie J and Abraham, Wickliffe C and Reynolds, John NJ},
title = {{The superior colliculus gates dopamine responses to conditioned stimuli in visual classical conditioning}},
journal = {Nature communications},
year = {2026},
month = apr,
volume = {17},
number = {1},
pages = {5885},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
issn = {2041-1723},
doi = {10.1038/
url = {https://
pmid = {42056096},
pmcid = {PMC13338361}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Zhang, Yan-Feng
AU - Dufour, Jean-Philippe
AU - Zatka-Haas, Peter
AU - Redgrave, Peter
AU - Black, Melony J
AU - Lak, Armin
AU - Mann, Ed
AU - Cragg, Stephanie J
AU - Abraham, Wickliffe C
AU - Reynolds, John NJ
TI - The superior colliculus gates dopamine responses to conditioned stimuli in visual classical conditioning
T2 - Nature communications
J2 - Nat Commun
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 17
IS - 1
SP - 5885
SN - 2041-1723
PB - Nature Publishing Group
DO - 10.1038/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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