Error-related signaling in nucleus accumbens D2 receptor-expressing neurons guides inhibition-based choice behavior in mice.

Learned associations between environmental cues and the outcomes they predict (cue-outcome associations) play a major role in behavioral control, guiding not only which responses we should perform, but also which we should inhibit, in order to achieve a specific goal. The encoding of such cue-outcome associations, as well as the performance of cue-guided choice behavior, is thought to involve dopamine D1 and D2 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons (D1-/D2-MSNs) of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Here, using a visual discrimination task in male mice, we assessed the role of NAc D1-/D2-MSNs in cue-guided inhibition of inappropriate responding. Cell-type specific neuronal silencing and in-vivo imaging revealed NAc D2-MSNs to contribute to inhibiting behavioral responses, with activation of NAc D2-MSNs following response errors playing an important role in optimizing future choice behavior. Our findings indicate that error-signaling by NAc D2-MSNs contributes to the ability to use environmental cues to inhibit inappropriate behavior. The mechanisms that inhibit behaviors that lead to undesirable outcomes are not fully understood. Here, authors show error signaling via dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the NAc optimizes future choice by inhibiting incorrect behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]