The Role of Dopamine in Training Automaticity

Habits and motor skills serve to automate routine behaviors, allowing the fast and fluid execution of complex tasks while reducing cognitive load. However, automatic behaviors can be difficult to override and can become problematic when circumstances change. Therefore, the healthy brain must carefully adjudicate which actions to automate. In this chapter, we review the evidence that dopamine signals in the dorsal striatum control transitions from goal-directed behavior to automatic or habitual behavior. We examine how dopamine release related to the development of automaticity is regulated, what effects dopamine has on downstream striatal synaptic plasticity and circuit function, and how the role of dopamine in orchestrating downstream circuit function and behavior changes after automaticity is acquired.