FIG. 1.

Task-dependent regulation of regional blood volume by dopaminergic neurons. Left panel: a specific dopaminergic projection from ventral tegmental area (VTA) modulates regional blood flow in primary visual cortex via D1 dopamine receptors (D1-R). Right panel: illustration of the hypothesized mechanism. Bottom panel shows the phasic responses of dopaminergic cells during a typical reinforcement learning paradigm (black trace) and corresponding dopamine release (red trace) after learning [simulated using the model of Tan and Bullock (2008)]. Top panel shows hypothesized modulation of regional blood flow by dopamine released.