A l'UM la science [S04-ep16]: The hidden plans of dopamine

This week in A l'UM la science, Jérémie Naudé, researcher at theIGF reveals the hidden plans of dopamine. The report takes us to Eurostim and our last-minute guest, Ana Palacios, gives us the program for the next Oreme conference. A program broadcast every Wednesday on Divergence FM 93.9.

We've all done it before: ask a dog to give its paw, reward it with a treat and then do it again until the dog gives the paw to get the treat. We all understand that the dog is reproducing a habit learned from the reward. Let's take another example: cigarettes. Here again, we know that cigarettes create a nicotine dependency that encourages us to return to this product again and again. But how can we understand how a former smoker who has weaned himself off his physical dependence can, years later, feel an irrepressible urge to smoke when he hears good or bad news, or simply finds himself in a particular context?

Both involve dopamine, a neurotransmitter long dubbed the "pleasure molecule". While scientists already know the role of dopamine in learning, they also know that, in certain contexts, dopamine can motivate us or incite us to perform certain actions, without understanding the mechanisms involved. Jérémie Naudé, a researcher at the Montpellier Institute of Functional Genomics, has been working on this enigma. In an article published in Nature Communications entitled Dopamine builds and reveals reward-associated latent behavioral attractors, he and his team propose a new theory on dopamine, based on the concept of latent attractors.

In the second half of the program, we take you to the Euromov laboratory to visit the Eurostim platform, where researchers are studying the effect of electric and magnetic fields on the brain.

Last but not least, our last-minute guest Ana Palacios will be presenting the upcoming Planet Ocean conference on February 11, on The cosmic manufacture of elements: a journey to the heart of the stars with an astronomer.

At UM la science you've got the program, let's go!

Coproduction: Divergence FM / Université de Montpellier
Animation: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interviews : Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Production: Bruno Bertrand

Listen to the program "A l'UM la science" on Divergence FM 93.9