The stimulation of dopaminergic neurons (that is, those in which the main neurotransmitter is dopamine, a substance related to pleasure and the development of addictions) in a structure of the brain called the substantia nigra can alter the learning process . This is maintained by a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in an essay published in the Journal of Neuroscience in which they describe this process for the first time.
During tests carried out with individuals who were undergoing treatment for Parkinson's disease using deep brain stimulation, the scientists observed that they repeated certain actions when they carried a reward. In the experiment, patients played a computer game in which they had to press buttons to choose between various objects. By selecting some, they were awarded. "If we stimulated the black substance when the participants achieved the achievement, they tended to repeat the action that preceded it, which suggests that this element plays an important role in associative learning", indicates Michael Kahana, professor of Psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences of the aforementioned institution and co-author of the study. The experts point out that the volunteers followed this behavior even when the act of pressing the same button did not have to show an object with a prize.
