Okihide Hikosaka

Pioneered the study of brain mechanisms of motivation and reward, discovering the importance of the basal ganglia in associating reward with motor performance, the presence of independent positive and negative motivational signals in midbrain dopamine neurons, and the role of the habenula as a source of negative motivational signals. Worked out the details of information processing in the Primate reward network, including prefrontal cortex, Caudata, Globus Pallidus, Subthalamic Nucleus, Substantia Nigra, Midbrain dopamine area, Limbic Cortex, and the Habenula. Recently demonstrated that information about reward is as potent as the reward itself for both an animal's performance and the response of dopamine neurons.