Reward and punishment is an idea that has governed all kinds of organisms since the beginning of time. In a broader sense, animals, including humans, portray a certain behavior to expect a certain reward or punishment. On a molecular level, researchers have discovered motivated behaviors in humans are regulated by the dopaminergic neurons in our brains. Moreover, overexpression or deficiency of these dopaminergic neurons via exogenous/endogenous ligands are the primary cause of some common disorders we see within our society.
In 2018, Columbia University Medical Center’s article “Link between hallucinations and dopamine, not such a mystery, finds study” was published. This article aimed to provide an explanation for the cause of schizophrenia, a severe disorder that impairs one’s cognitive and behavioral abilities. This group of researchers found that elevated dopamine levels increased the dependency one had on expectations, which also increased the probability of one having hallucinations, one of the main symptoms found schizophrenic patients. In laymen’s terms, elevated dopamine levels are directly related to schizophrenic patients.
In their article, “Parallels and Overlap: The Integration of Homeostatic Signals by Mesolimbic Dopamine Neurons”, Dr. Ted Hsu and colleagues discuss their findings of the mesolimbic dopamine neurons. More specifically, they find that these mesolimbic neurons explicitly function towards reward-seeking behaviors.
This research can relate to Columbia University’s research by understanding how reward-seeking behaviors affect schizophrenic patients. If a positive correlation can be made linking the drive for reward-seeking behavior in schizophrenic people and the mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons, further studies can aim their focus around these neurons and how we can modify them to inhibit schizophrenia in humans. Studies can also overexpress the mesolimbic neurons against the dopaminergic neurons in mice, or other model organisms, to determine if there is a difference schizophrenic behavior.
Citations:
Columbia University Medical Center. (2018, February 16). Link between hallucinations and dopamine not such a mystery, finds study. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 25, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180216142646.htm
Hsu TM, McCutcheon JE and Roitman MF (2018) Parallels and Overlap: The Integration of Homeostatic Signals by Mesolimbic Dopamine Neurons. Front. Psychiatry 9:410. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00410
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