New paper by Jennifer Swart in eLife

Our study titled “Catecholaminergic challenge uncovers distinct Pavlovian and instrumental mechanisms of motivated (in)action” is now published online in eLife. In this study, we examined whether motivational biases may also arise from asymmetrical instrumental learning of active and passive responses following reward and punishment outcomes. The results indicate that reward and punishment cues promoted generalized (in)action in a Pavlovian manner, whereas outcomes enhanced instrumental (un)learning of chosen actions. These cue- and outcome-based biases were altered independently by the catecholamine enhancer melthylphenidate. Our study uncovers two distinct mechanisms by which motivation impacts behaviour, and helps refine current models of catecholaminergic modulation of motivated action

The paper is open access and can be downloaded here.