The Role of Reward and Acetylcholine in Brain Territory Expansion

Activity in your auditory cortex is triggered by a note, but its significance depends on the meaning attached to it. If the note is associated with a reward like a chocolate chip cookie, the brain allocates more territory for that frequency. Similarly, if the note is paired with the release of acetylcholine, it also expands cortical representation. Acetylcholine is a universal mechanism that marks relevance and enhances performance. It triggers changes in neural territory and helps in detecting important stimuli. This mechanism applies to various stimuli such as music, textures, and verbal cues. To illustrate, consider learning a new musical instrument as an example.