Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area support intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), yet the cognitive representations underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. Here, 20-Hz stimulation of dopamine neurons, which approximates a physiologically relevant prediction error, was not sufficient to support ICSS beyond a continuously reinforced schedule and did not endow cues with a general or specific value. However, 50-Hz stimulation of dopamine neurons was sufficient to drive robust ICSS and was represented as a specific reward to motivate behavior. The frequency dependence of this effect is due to the rate (not the number) of action potentials produced by dopamine neurons, which differently modulates dopamine release downstream.

腹侧被盖区的多巴胺神经元支持颅内自我刺激（ICSS），但这种现象背后的认知表征仍不清楚。在这里，多巴胺神经元的 20 Hz 刺激（近似于生理相关的预测误差）不足以支持 ICSS 超出持续强化的时间表，并且没有赋予线索一般或特定的价值。然而，多巴胺神经元的 50 Hz 刺激足以驱动强大的 ICSS，并被视为激励行为的特定奖励。这种效应的频率依赖性是由于多巴胺神经元产生的动作电位的速率（而不是数量）造成的，它以不同的方式调节下游的多巴胺释放。