Abstract

Significance Whether humans make choices based on a deliberative “model-based” or a reflexive “model-free” system of behavioral control remains an ongoing topic of research. Dopamine is implicated in motivational drive as well as in planning future actions. Here, we demonstrate that higher presynaptic dopamine in human ventral striatum is associated with more pronounced model-based behavioral control, as well as an enhanced coding of model-based signatures in lateral prefrontal cortex and diminished coding of model-free learning signals in ventral striatum. Our study links ventral striatal presynaptic dopamine to a balance between two distinct modes of behavioral control in humans. The findings have implications for neuropsychiatric diseases associated with alterations of dopamine neurotransmission and a disrupted balance of behavioral control.