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Professor Bernard Balleine

Professor
Brain & Mind Research Institute, School of Medical Sciences

M02 - Mallet Street Campus
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia

T:+61 2 9114 4011
E:

Research interests

Professor Balleine’s research aims to understand the neural bases of the learning and motivational processes that control volitional, or goal-directed, action, an issue that has direct bearing on our developing understanding of the role that the integration of cognitive and emotional systems plays in executive functions and decision-making. Currently his research team is focusing on three primary issues: [1] The role of the prefrontal cortex-basal ganglia network in the changes in goal-directed learning that emerge as a consequence of neurodegeneration, focal brain damage and addiction; [2] The role of the amygdala, its brain stem afferents and its efferents on ventral striatum, insular cortex and midbrain dopamine neurons in regulating the emotional processes through which the reward value of events is encoded; and [3] The role of the thalamo-striatal projection and related cortical connections involving somatosensory cortex in the integration of cognitive and emotional processes necessary for normal decision-making.

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Current national competitive grants*

2011

Action-related learning and plasticity in the cortico-striatal network
Balleine B, Christie M
Australian Research Council Discovery Project ($360,000 over 3 years)

2009

The neural basis of instrumental action
Balleine B
National Institutes of Health (USA) Research Support ($1,132,512 over 3 years)

The neural bases of decision-making
Balleine B
ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships ($2,996,244 over 4 years)

Alcohol, Habit and the Failure of Behavioral Control
Balleine B
National Institute on Drug Abuse (USA) Research Support ($844,633 over 4 years)

* Grants administered through the University of Sydney

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Keywords

Movement disorders; Mental disorders; Neurosciences; Behavioural neuroscience; Cognitive disorders

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Publications

2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007

2013

  
  • Hogarth, L., Balleine, B., Corbit, L., Killcross, S. (2013), Associative learning mechanisms underpinning the transition from recreational drug use to addiction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1282(1), 12-24. [Abstract]

2012

  
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  • Alvares, G., Chen, N., Balleine, B., Hickie, I., Guastella, A. (2012), Oxytocin selectively moderates negative cognitive appraisals in high trait anxious males. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 37(12), 2022-2031. [Abstract]
  • Dezfouli, A., Balleine, B. (2012), Habits, action sequences and reinforcement learning. European Journal of Neuroscience. 35(7), 1036-1051. [Abstract]
  • Wassum, K., Tolosa, V., Tseng, T., Balleine, B., Monbouquette, H., Maidment, N. (2012), Transient extracellular glutamate events in the basolateral amygdala track reward-seeking actions. Journal of Neuroscience. 32(8), 2734-2746. [Abstract]
  • Laurent, V., Leung, B., Maidment, N., Balleine, B. (2012), μ- and δ-opioid-related processes in the accumbens core and shell differentially mediate the influence of reward-guided and stimulus-guided decisions on choice. Journal of Neuroscience. 32(5), 1875-1883. [Abstract]
  • Lingawi, N., Balleine, B. (2012), Amygdala central nucleus interacts with dorsolateral striatum to regulate the acquisition of habits. Journal of Neuroscience. 32(3), 1073-1081. [Abstract]
  • Bertran-Gonzalez, J., Chieng, B., Laurent, V., Valjent, E., Balleine, B. (2012), Striatal cholinergic interneurons display activity-related phosphorylation of ribosomal protein s6. PLoS One. 7(12), e53195. [Abstract]
  • O'Doherty, J., Balleine, B. (2012), Neural bases of actions and habits. In: Cognitive Search: Evolution, Algorithms, and the Brain. (pp.97-110).United States: MIT Press.
  • Winstanley, C., Redish, A., Seamans, J., Robbins, T., Balleine, B., Brown, J., Büchel, C., Cools, R., Durstewitz, D., O'Doherty, J., Pennartz, C. (2012), Search, goals and the brain. In: Cognitive Search: Evolution, Algorithms, and the Brain. (pp.125-158).United States: MIT Press.

2011

  
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  • Balleine, B., Leung, B., Ostlund, S. (2011), The orbitofrontal cortex, predicted value, and choice. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1239(1), 43-50. [Abstract]
  • Shiflett, M., Balleine, B. (2011), Molecular substrates of action control in cortico-striatal circuits. Progress in Neurobiology. 95(1), 1-13. [Abstract]
  • Corbit, L., Balleine, B. (2011), The general and outcome-specific forms of pavlovian-instrumental transfer are differentially mediated by the nucleus accumbens core and shell. The Journal of Neuroscience. 31(33), 11786-11794. [Abstract]
  • Shiflett, M., Balleine, B. (2011), Contributions of ERK signaling in the striatum to instrumental learning and performance. Behavioural Brain Research. 218(1), 240-247. [Abstract]
  • Liljeholm, M., Tricomi, E., O'Doherty, J., Balleine, B. (2011), Neural correlates of instrumental contingency learning: differential effects of action-reward conjunction and disjunction. The Journal of Neuroscience. 31(7), 2474-2480. [Abstract]
  • Wassum, K., Cely, I., Balleine, B., Maidment, N. (2011), Micro-opioid receptor activation in the basolateral amygdala mediates the learning of increases but not decreases in the incentive value of a food reward. The Journal of Neuroscience. 31(5), 1591-1599. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Wassum, K., Murphy, N., Balleine, B., Maidment, N. (2011), Extracellular dopamine levels in striatal subregions track shifts in motivation and response cost during instrumental conditioning. The Journal of Neuroscience. 31(1), 200-207. [Abstract]
  • Wassum, K., Ostlund, S., Balleine, B., Maidment, N. (2011), Differential dependence of Pavlovian incentive motivation and instrumental incentive learning processes on dopamine signaling. Learning & Memory. 18(7), 475-483. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B. (2011), Sensation, incentive learning, and the motivational control of goal-directed action. In: Neurobiology of Sensation and Reward. (pp.287-310).United States: Taylor and Francis.

2010

  
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  • Shiflett, M., Balleine, B. (2010), At the limbic-motor interface: disconnection of basolateral amygdala from nucleus accumbens core and shell reveals dissociable components of incentive motivation. The European journal of neuroscience. 32(10), 1735-43. [Abstract]
  • Liljeholm, M., Balleine, B. (2010), Extracting functional equivalence from reversing contingencies. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 36(2), 165-171. [Abstract]
  • Shiflett, M., Brown, R., Balleine, B. (2010), Acquisition and performance of goal-directed instrumental actions depends on ERK signaling in distinct regions of dorsal striatum in rats. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 30(8), 2951-2959. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Maidment, N., Balleine, B. (2010), Alcohol-Paired Contextual Cues Produce an Immediate and Selective Loss of Goal-directed Action in Rats. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience. 4, pii: 19. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., O'Doherty, J. (2010), Human and Rodent Homologies in Action Control: Corticostriatal Determinants of Goal-Directed and Habitual Action. Neuropsychopharmacology. 35(1), 48-69. [Abstract]

2009

  
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  • Wassum, K., Cely, I., Maidment, N., Balleine, B. (2009), Disruption of endogenous opioid activity during instrumental learning enhances habit acquisition. Neuroscience. 163(3), 770-80. [Abstract]
  • Wassum, K., Ostlund, S., Maidment, N., Balleine, B. (2009), Distinct opioid circuits determine the palatability and the desirability of rewarding events. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106(30), 12512-12517. [Abstract]
  • de Wit, S., Ostlund, S., Balleine, B., Dickinson, A. (2009), Resolution of conflict between goal-directed actions: Outcome encoding and neural control processes. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 35(3), 382-393. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Winterbauer, N., Balleine, B. (2009), Evidence of action sequence chunking in goal-directed instrumental conditioning and its dependence on the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. The Journal of neuroscience. 29(25), 8280-8287. [Abstract]
  • Tricomi, E., Balleine, B., O'Doherty, J. (2009), A specific role for posterior dorsolateral striatum in human habit learning. The European journal of neuroscience. 29(11), 2225-2232. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Liljeholm, M., Ostlund, S. (2009), The integrative function of the basal ganglia in instrumental conditioning. Behavioural brain research. 199(1), 43-52. [Abstract]
  • Liljeholm, M., Balleine, B. (2009), Mediated conditioning versus retrospective revaluation in humans: the influence of physical and functional similarity of cues. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. 62(3), 470-482. [Abstract]
  • Dickinson, A., Balleine, B. (2009), Hedonics: The cognitive-motivational interface. In: Pleasures of the Brain. (pp.74-84).United States: Oxford University Press.
  • Ostlund, S., Winterbauer, N., Balleine, B. (2009), Theory of reward systems. In: Concise Learning and Memory: The Editor's Selection. (pp.483-502).United States: Elsevier.

2008

  
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  • Yin, H., Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. (2008), Reward-guided learning beyond dopamine in the nucleus accumbens: the integrative functions of cortico-basal ganglia networks. The European journal of neuroscience. 28(8), 1437-1448. [Abstract]
  • Tanaka, S., Balleine, B., O'Doherty, J. (2008), Calculating consequences: brain systems that encode the causal effects of actions. The Journal of neuroscience. 28(26), 6750-6755. [Abstract]
  • Bray, S., Rangel, A., Shimojo, S., Balleine, B., O'Doherty, J. (2008), The neural mechanisms underlying the influence of pavlovian cues on human decision making. The Journal of neuroscience. 28(22), 5861-5866. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. (2008), Differential involvement of the basolateral amygdala and mediodorsal thalamus in instrumental action selection. The Journal of neuroscience. 28(17), 4398-4405. [Abstract]
  • Espinet, A., Artigas, A., Balleine, B. (2008), Inhibitory sensory preconditioning detected with a sodium depletion procedure. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. 61(2), 240-247. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B. (2008), Taste, disgust and value: taste aversion learning and outcome encoding in instrumental conditioning. In: Conditioned Taste Aversion: Neural and Behavioral Processes. (pp.262-280).United States: Oxford University Press.
  • Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. (2008), The disunity of Pavlovian and instrumental values. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 31, 456-457.
  • Ostlund, S., Winterbauer, N., Balleine, B. (2008), Theory of Reward Systems. In: Learning Theory and Behavior. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, Vol 1. (pp.701-720).United Kingdom: Elsevier.
  • Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. (2008), On habits and addiction: An associative analysis of compulsive drug seeking. Drug discovery today. Disease models. 5(4), 235-245. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Daw, N., O'Doherty, J. (2008), Multiple forms of value learning and the function of dopamine. In: Neuroeconomics. (pp.367-387).United Kingdom: Academic Press.

2007

  
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  • Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. (2007), The contribution of orbitofrontal cortex to action selection. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1121, 174-192. [Abstract]
  • Corbit, L., Janak, P., Balleine, B. (2007), General and outcome-specific forms of Pavlovian-instrumental transfer: the effect of shifts in motivational state and inactivation of the ventral tegmental area. The European journal of neuroscience. 26(11), 3141-3149. [Abstract]
  • Lobo, M., Cui, Y., Ostlund, S., Balleine, B., Yang, X. (2007), Genetic control of instrumental conditioning by striatopallidal neuron-specific S1P receptor Gpr6. Nature neuroscience. 10(11), 1395-1397. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Delgado, M., Hikosaka, O. (2007), The role of the dorsal striatum in reward and decision-making. The Journal of neuroscience. 27(31), 8161-8165. [Abstract]
  • Nader, K., Balleine, B. (2007), Ambiguity and anxiety: when a glass half full is empty. Nature Neuroscience. 10(7), 807-808. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. (2007), Orbitofrontal cortex mediates outcome encoding in Pavlovian but not instrumental conditioning. The Journal of neuroscience. 27(18), 4819-4825. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Doya, K., O'Doherty, J., Sakagami, M. (2007), Current trends in decision making. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1104, xi-xv. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Ostlund, S. (2007), Still at the choice-point: action selection and initiation in instrumental conditioning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1104, 147-171. [Abstract]
  • Wiltgen, B., Law, M., Ostlund, S., Mayford, M., Balleine, B. (2007), The influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental performance is mediated by CaMKII activity in the striatum. The European journal of neuroscience. 25(8), 2491-2497. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Balline, B. (2007), Selective reinstatement of instrumental performance depends on the discriminative stimulus properties of the mediating outcome. Learning & behavior. 35(1), 43-52. [Abstract]
  • Winterbauer, N., Balleine, B. (2007), The influence of amphetamine on sensory and conditioned reinforcement: evidence for the re-selection hypothesis of dopamine function. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience. 1, 1-8. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B. (2007), The neural basis of choice and decision-making. Journal of Neuroscience. 27, 8159-8160.