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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*

2010

Action-reward integration in the amygdalocortical-striatal network
Balleine B
NHMRC Project Grant ($730,500 over 3 years)

Methamphetamine-induced habits and the re-establishment of behavioural control
Balleine B, Killcross S
NHMRC Project Grant ($556,500 over 3 years)

2009

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

Cortico-striatal Circuits in Actions and Habits
Balleine B
National Institutes of Health (USA) Research Support ($914,620 over 4 years)

The neural basis of instrumental action
Balleine B
National Institutes of Health (USA) Research Support ($1,195,842 over 3 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

2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

2010

  
  • Balleine, B., O'Doherty, J. Human and Rodent Homologies in Action Control: Corticostriatal Determinants of Goal-Directed and Habitual Action. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010; 35:48-69. [Abstract]

2009

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

2008

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

2007

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

2006

  
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  • Liljeholm, M., Balleine, B. Stimulus salience and retrospective revaluation. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 2006; 32:481-487. [Abstract]
  • de Wit, S., Kosaki, Y., Balleine, B., Dickinson, A. Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex resolves response conflict in rats. The Journal of neuroscience. 2006; 26:5224-5229. [Abstract]
  • Yin, H., Zhuang, X., Balleine, B. Instrumental learning in hyperdopaminergic mice. Neurobiology of learning and memory. 2006; 85:283-288. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Killcross, S. Parallel incentive processing: an integrated view of amygdala function. Trends in neurosciences. 2006; 29:272-279. [Abstract]
  • Yin, H., Knowlton, B., Balleine, B. Inactivation of dorsolateral striatum enhances sensitivity to changes in the action-outcome contingency in instrumental conditioning. Behavioural brain research. 2006; 166:189-196. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Dickinson, A. Motivational control of blocking. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 2006; 32:33-43. [Abstract]

2005

  
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  • Balleine, B. Neural bases of food-seeking: affect, arousal and reward in corticostriatolimbic circuits. Physiology & behavior. 2005; 86:717-730. [Abstract]
  • Ostlund, S., Balleine, B. Lesions of medial prefrontal cortex disrupt the acquisition but not the expression of goal-directed learning. The Journal of neuroscience. 2005; 25:7763-7770. [Abstract]
  • Yin, H., Ostlund, S., Knowlton, B., Balleine, B. The role of the dorsomedial striatum in instrumental conditioning. The European journal of neuroscience. 2005; 22:513-523. [Abstract]
  • Yin, H., Knowlton, B., Balleine, B. Blockade of NMDA receptors in the dorsomedial striatum prevents action-outcome learning in instrumental conditioning. The European journal of neuroscience. 2005; 22:505-512. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Espinet, A., González, F. Perceptual learning enhances retrospective revaluation of conditioned flavor preferences in rats. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 2005; 31:341-350. [Abstract]
  • Winterbauer, N., Balleine, B. Motivational control of second-order conditioning. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 2005; 31:334-40. [Abstract]
  • Corbit, L., Balleine, B. Double dissociation of basolateral and central amygdala lesions on the general and outcome-specific forms of pavlovian-instrumental transfer. The Journal of neuroscience. 2005; 25:962-970. [Abstract]
  • Wang, S., Ostlund, S., Nader, K., Balleine, B. Consolidation and reconsolidation of incentive learning in the amygdala. The Journal of neuroscience. 2005; 25:830-835. [Abstract]
  • Glasner, S., Overmier, J., Balleine, B. The role of Pavlovian cuesin alcohol-seeking in dependent and non-dependent rats. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. 2005; 66:53-61.
  • Balleine, B., Paredes-Olay, C., Dickinson, A. The effect of outcome devaluation on the performance of a heterogenous instrumental chain. International Journal of Comparative Psychology. 2005; 18:257-272.

2004

  
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  • Espinet, A., González, F., Balleine, B. Inhibitory sensory preconditioning. The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology. 2004; 57:261-272. [Abstract]
  • Frankland, P., Wang, Y., Rosner, B., Shimizu, T., Balleine, B., Dykens, E., Ornitz, E., Silva, A. Sensorimotor gating abnormalities in young males with fragile X syndrome and Fmr1-knockout mice. Molecular psychiatry. 2004; 9:417-425. [Abstract]
  • Yin, H., Knowlton, B., Balleine, B. Lesions of dorsolateral striatum preserve outcome expectancy but disrupt habit formation in instrumental learning. The European journal of neuroscience. 2004; 19:181-189. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B. Incentive Behavior. In: The Behavior of the Laboratory Rat. United States: Oxford University Press 2004. p. 436-446.

2003

  
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  • Corbit, L., Balleine, B. The role of prelimbic cortex in instrumental conditioning. Behavioural brain research. 2003; 146:145-157. [Abstract]
  • Corbit, L., Muir, J., Balleine, B. Lesions of mediodorsal thalamus and anterior thalamic nuclei produce dissociable effects on instrumental conditioning in rats. The European journal of neuroscience. 2003; 18:1286-1294. [Abstract]
  • Corbit, L., Balleine, B. Instrumental and Pavlovian incentive processes have dissociable effects on components of a heterogeneous instrumental chain. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 2003; 29:99-106. [Abstract]
  • Hunter, A., Balleine, B., Minor, T. Helplessness and escape performance: glutamate-adenosine interactions in the frontal cortex. Behavioral neuroscience. 2003; 117:123-135. [Abstract]
  • Balleine, B., Killcross, A., Dickinson, A. The effect of lesions of the basolateral amygdala on instrumental conditioning. The Journal of neuroscience. 2003; 23:666-675. [Abstract]
  • Saade, S., Balleine, B., Minor, T. The L-type calcium channel blocker nimodipine mitigates "learned helplessness" in rats. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior. 2003; 74:269-278. [Abstract]