Reversal learning as a measure of impulsive and compulsive behavior in addictions

Blunted Dopamine Transmission in Addiction: Potential Mechanisms and Implications for Behavior

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging consistently shows blunted striatal dopamine release and decreased dopamine D2 receptor availability in addiction. Here, we review the preclinical and clinical studies indicating that this neurobiological phenotype is likely to be both a consequence of chronic drug consumption and a vulnerability factor in the development of addiction. We propose that, behaviorally, blunted striatal dopamine transmission could reflect the increased impulsivity and altered cost/benefit computations that are associated with addiction. The factors that influence blunted striatal dopamine transmission in addiction are unknown. Herein, we give an overview of various factors, genetic, environmental, and social, that are known to affect dopamine transmission and that have been associated with the vulnerability to develop addiction. Altogether, these data suggest that blunted dopamine transmission and decreased D2 receptor availability are biomarkers both for the development of addiction and resistance to treatment. These findings support the view that blunted dopamine reflects impulsive behavior and deficits in motivation, which lead to the escalation of drug use.

Pallidal spiking activity reflects learning dynamics and predicts performance

The basal ganglia (BG) network has been divided into interacting actor and critic components, modulating the probabilities of different state-action combinations through learning. Most models of learning and decision making in the BG focus on the roles of the striatum and its dopaminergic inputs, commonly overlooking the complexities and interactions of BG downstream nuclei. In this study, we aimed to reveal the learning-related activity of the external segment of the globus pallidus (GPe), a downstream structure whose computational role has remained relatively unexplored. Recording from monkeys engaged in a deterministic three-choice reversal learning task, we found that changes in GPe discharge rates predicted subsequent behavioral shifts on a trial-by-trial basis. Furthermore, the activity following the shift encoded whether it resulted in reward or not. The frequent changes in stimulus-outcome contingencies (i.e., reversals) allowed us to examine the learning-related neural activity and show that GPe discharge rates closely matched across-trial learning dynamics. Additionally, firing rates exhibited a linear decrease in sequences of correct responses, possibly reflecting a gradual shift from goal-directed execution to automaticity. Thus, modulations in GPe spiking activity are highest for attention-demanding aspects of behavior (i.e., switching choices) and decrease as attentional demands decline (i.e., as performance becomes automatic). These findings are contrasted with results from striatal tonically active neurons, which show none of these task-related modulations. Our results demonstrate that GPe, commonly studied in motor contexts, takes part in cognitive functions, in which movement plays a marginal role.

Compulsivity Across the Pathological Misuse of Drug and Non-Drug Rewards

Behavioral adaptation is required for the successful navigation of a constantly changing environment. Impairments in behavioral flexibility are commonly observed in psychiatric disorders including those of addiction. This study investigates two distinct facets of compulsivity, namely reversal learning and attentional set shifting, implicating orbitofrontal and lateral prefrontal regions respectively, across disorders of primary and secondary rewards. Obese subjects with and without binge eating disorder (BED), individuals with compulsive sexual behaviors (CSB), alcohol dependence (AD) and pathological video-gaming (VG) were tested with two computerized tasks: the probabilistic reversal task (trials to criterion and win-stay/lose-shift errors) and the intra/extra-dimensional set shift task (IED). Individuals with AD and pathological VG were slower at reversal learning irrespective of valence, with AD subjects more likely to perseverate after losses. Compared to obese subjects without BED, BED subjects were worse at reversal learning to wins but better at losses highlighting valence effects as a function of binge eating. CSB subjects demonstrated enhanced sensitivity to reward outcomes with faster acquisition and greater perseveration with higher magnitude rewards. We further show an impairment in attentional set shifting in individuals with BED and AD relative to healthy volunteers (HV). This study provides evidence for commonalities and differences in two distinct dimensions of behavioral inflexibility across disorders of compulsivity. We summarize studies on compulsivity subtypes within this same patient population. We emphasize commonalities in AD and BED with impairments across a range of compulsivity indices, perhaps supporting pathological binge eating as a form of behavioral addiction. We further emphasize commonalities in reversal learning across disorders and the crucial role of valence effects. These findings highlight the role of behavioral inflexibility and compulsivity as a relevant domain in defining dimensional psychiatry and the identification of relevant cognitive endophenotypes as targets for therapeutic modulation.

Effects of Dexamphetamine and Music on Reversal Learning

Background:

Reversal learning has proven to be a valuable task in assessing the inhibitory process that is central to executive control. Psycho-stimulants and music are prevalent factors that influence cognition.

Objectives:

The present study aimed at investigating the influences of dexamphetamine and music on inhibitory control.

Materials and Methods:

This experimental study was conducted between May and June 2014 in the laboratory animal center of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Thirty mice were divided to five groups including a control group, a witness group, and three experimental groups. Food availability was restricted in order to maintain the subjects at 85% of their free-feeding body weight for behavioral testing. After discrimination learning, animals received four injections of 2 mg/kg dexamphetamine at two-hour intervals. The music group was exposed to music half an hour before reversal learning.

Results:

According to the results of the repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), music increased errors (mean difference: -2.40, 95% CI: -3.59 to -1.22), yet dexamphetamine had no significant effect on reversal learning. Due to various advantages, we transited to the mixed model that showed increasing (Beta: 2.2 95% CI: 0.26 to 4.13) and borderline (Beta: 1.8 95% CI: -0.13 to 3.73) effects on the number of errors for dexamphetamine and music group, respectively.

Conclusions:

Drug-treated subjects were impaired in their ability to modulate behavior, based upon changing information about stimulus-reward associations, possibly due to the inability to inhibit their response. These effects may have relevance to some mental disorders such as drug-abuse, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Chronic methamphetamine self-administration alters cognitive flexibility in male rats

RATIONALE

Methamphetamine (meth) addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder that often produces persistent cognitive deficits. These include decreased cognitive flexibility, which may prevent meth addicts from altering their habitual drug abuse and leave them more susceptible to relapse. Multiple factors including low rates of compliance with research study participation and varied drug use patterns make the relationship between cognitive flexibility and relapse difficult to establish in clinical populations.

OBJECTIVES

Here, we combined an extended-access meth self-administration paradigm with an automated set-shifting task in rats to directly compare cognitive flexibility performance with meth-seeking behavior.

METHODS

Rats were pre-trained on an automated visual discrimination task, followed by 14 days of extended access (6 h/day) of meth or sucrose self-administration. They were then tested in the set-shifting task on strategy shift and reversal and subsequently assessed for cue-induced reinstatement of meth seeking.

RESULTS

Rats with a history of meth, but not sucrose, self-administration had selective deficits in reversal learning. Specifically, meth rats had an increase in the total number of errors and perseverative errors (corresponding to the old stimulus-reward association) following the reversal shift, which correlated with prior stable meth self-administration. However, no relationship was seen between errors during the reversal and cue-induced reinstatement.

CONCLUSION

The lack of association between meth-induced reversal deficits and cue-induced reinstatement to meth seeking indicates that these two domains may constitute independent pathologies of meth addiction.

Hypothesizing Music Intervention Enhances Brain Functional Connectivity Involving Dopaminergic Recruitment: Common Neuro-correlates to Abusable Drugs

The goal of this review is to explore the clinical significance of music listening on neuroplasticity and dopaminergic activation by understanding the role of music therapy in addictive behavior treatment. fMRI data has shown that music listening intensely modifies mesolimbic structural changes responsible for reward processing (e.g., nucleus accumbens [NAc]) and may control the emotional stimuli's effect on autonomic and physiological responses (e.g., hypothalamus). Music listening has been proven to induce the endorphinergic response blocked by naloxone, a common opioid antagonist. NAc opioid transmission is linked to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine release. There are remarkable commonalities between listening to music and the effect of drugs on mesolimbic dopaminergic activation. It has been found that musical training before the age of 7 results in changes in white-matter connectivity, protecting carriers with low dopaminergic function (DRD2A1 allele, etc.) from poor decision-making, reward dependence, and impulsivity. In this article, we briefly review a few studies on the neurochemical effects of music and propose that these findings are relevant to the positive clinical findings observed in the literature. We hypothesize that music intervention enhances brain white matter plasticity through dopaminergic recruitment and that more research is needed to explore the efficacy of these therapies.

Compulsivity in obsessive-compulsive disorder and addictions

Compulsive behaviors are driven by repetitive urges and typically involve the experience of limited voluntary control over these urges, a diminished ability to delay or inhibit these behaviors, and a tendency to perform repetitive acts in a habitual or stereotyped manner. Compulsivity is not only a central characteristic of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but is also crucial to addiction. Based on this analogy, OCD has been proposed to be part of the concept of behavioral addiction along with other non-drug-related disorders that share compulsivity, such as pathological gambling, skin-picking, trichotillomania and compulsive eating. In this review, we investigate the neurobiological overlap between compulsivity in substance-use disorders, OCD and behavioral addictions as a validation for the construct of compulsivity that could be adopted in the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). The reviewed data suggest that compulsivity in OCD and addictions is related to impaired reward and punishment processing with attenuated dopamine release in the ventral striatum, negative reinforcement in limbic systems, cognitive and behavioral inflexibility with diminished serotonergic prefrontal control, and habitual responding with imbalances between ventral and dorsal frontostriatal recruitment. Frontostriatal abnormalities of compulsivity are promising targets for neuromodulation and other interventions for OCD and addictions. We conclude that compulsivity encompasses many of the RDoC constructs in a trans-diagnostic fashion with a common brain circuit dysfunction that can help identifying appropriate prevention and treatment targets.

Sex differences, learning flexibility, and striatal dopamine D1 and D2 following adolescent drug exposure in rats

Corticostriatal circuitry supports flexible reward learning and emotional behavior from the critical neurodevelopmental stage of adolescence through adulthood. It is still poorly understood how prescription drug exposure in adolescence may impact these outcomes in the long-term. We studied adolescent methylphenidate (MPH) and fluoxetine (FLX) exposure in rats and their impact on learning and emotion in adulthood. In Experiment 1, male and female rats were administered MPH, FLX, or saline (SAL), and compared with methamphetamine (mAMPH) treatment beginning in postnatal day (PND) 37. The rats were then tested on discrimination and reversal learning in adulthood. In Experiment 2, animals were administered MPH or SAL also beginning in PND 37 and later tested in adulthood for anxiety levels. In Experiment 3, we analyzed striatal dopamine D1 and D2 receptor expression in adulthood following either extensive learning (after Experiment 1) or more brief emotional measures (after Experiment 2). We found sex differences in discrimination learning and attenuated reversal learning after MPH and only sex differences in adulthood anxiety. In learners, there was enhanced striatal D1, but not D2, after either adolescent MPH or mAMPH. Lastly, also in learners, there was a sex x treatment group interaction for D2, but not D1, driven by the MPH-pretreated females, who expressed significantly higher D2 levels compared to SAL. These results show enduring effects of adolescent MPH on reversal learning in rats. Developmental psychostimulant exposure may interact with learning to enhance D1 expression in adulthood, and affect D2 expression in a sex-dependent manner.

The neural basis of reversal learning: An updated perspective

Reversal learning paradigms are among the most widely used tests of cognitive flexibility and have been used as assays, across species, for altered cognitive processes in a host of neuropsychiatric conditions. Based on recent studies in humans, non-human primates, and rodents, the notion that reversal learning tasks primarily measure response inhibition, has been revised. In this review, we describe how cognitive flexibility is measured by reversal learning and discuss new definitions of the construct validity of the task that are serving as a heuristic to guide future research in this field. We also provide an update on the available evidence implicating certain cortical and subcortical brain regions in the mediation of reversal learning, and an overview of the principal neurotransmitter systems involved.

[The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in delayed reinforcement choice in rats]

Previous studies have reported that lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in rats induce impulsive choices in delayed reinforcement tasks. However, some studies have suggested that the OFC is not related to impulsivity but instead to compulsivity. In this study, we investigated the effects of OFC lesions on choice in a T-maze. First, 14 rats were trained to discriminate spatially between a high-reward arm with a delay of 15 seconds and a low-reward arm without a delay. The high-reward arm contained 10 food pellets, whereas the low-reward arm contained only one pellet. In the presurgery test, all rats chose the high-reward arm in most trials. In the postsurgery test, both OFC lesioned (n = 7) and control (sham-lesioned and intact; n = 7) rats continued to choose the high-reward arm in most trials. Following the postsurgery test, the high- and low-reward arms were reversed. In the reversal test, OFC lesioned rats made significantly fewer high-reward choices than did control rats. These results indicate that OFC lesions induced compulsive choices rather than impulsive choices.

Addiction History Associates with the Propensity to Form Habits

Learned habitual responses to environmental stimuli allow efficient interaction with the environment, freeing cognitive resources for more demanding tasks. However, when the outcome of such actions is no longer a desired goal, established stimulus-response (S-R) associations or habits must be overcome. Among people with substance use disorders (SUDs), difficulty in overcoming habitual responses to stimuli associated with their addiction in favor of new, goal-directed behaviors contributes to relapse. Animal models of habit learning demonstrate that chronic self-administration of drugs of abuse promotes habitual responding beyond the domain of compulsive drug seeking. However, whether a similar propensity toward domain-general habitual responding occurs in humans with SUDs has remained unclear. To address this question, we used a visuomotor S-R learning and relearning task, the Hidden Association between Images Task, which employs abstract visual stimuli and manual responses. This task allows us to measure new S-R association learning and well-learned S-R association execution and includes a response contingency change manipulation to quantify the degree to which responding is habit-based, rather than goal-directed. We find that people with SUDs learn new S-R associations as well as healthy control participants do. Moreover, people with an SUD history slightly outperform controls in S-R execution. In contrast, people with SUDs are specifically impaired in overcoming well-learned S-R associations; those with SUDs make a significantly greater proportion of perseverative errors during well-learned S-R replacement, indicating the more habitual nature of their responses. Thus, with equivalent training and practice, people with SUDs appear to show enhanced domain-general habit formation.

Impulsivity, Stimulant Abuse, and Dopamine Receptor Signaling

The nonmedical use of amphetamine-type stimulants is a worldwide problem, with substantial medical and social consequences. Nonetheless, the identification of a pharmacological treatment for amphetamine use disorder remains elusive. Stimulant users exhibit neurochemical evidence of dopamine-system dysfunction as well as impulsive behaviors that may interfere with the success of treatments for their addiction. This review focuses on the potential role of dopaminergic neurotransmission in impulsivity, both in healthy individuals and chronic stimulant users who meet criteria for methamphetamine dependence. Presented are findings related to the potential contributions of signaling through dopamine D1- and D2-type receptors to self-control impulsivity in methamphetamine- dependent users. The information available points to signaling through striatal D2-type dopamine receptors as a potential therapeutic target for stimulant use disorders, but medications that target D2-type dopamine receptors have not been successful in treating stimulant-use disorders, possibly because D2-type receptors are downregulated. Other means to augment D2-type receptor signaling are therefore under consideration, and one promising approach is the addition of exercise training as an adjunct to behavioral treatment for addiction.

Translational Research on Habit and Alcohol

Habitual actions enable efficient daily living, but they can also contribute to pathological behaviors that resistant change, such as alcoholism. Habitual behaviors are learned actions that appear goal-directed but are in fact no longer under the control of the action's outcome. Instead, these actions are triggered by stimuli, which may be exogenous or interoceptive, discrete or contextual. A major hallmark characteristic of alcoholism is continued alcohol use despite serious negative consequences. In essence, although the outcome of alcohol seeking and drinking is dramatically devalued, these actions persist, often triggered by environmental cues associated with alcohol use. Thus, alcoholism meets the definition of an initially goal-directed behavior that converts to a habit-based process. Habit and alcohol have been well investigated in rodent models, with comparatively less research in non-human primates and people. This review focuses on translational research on habit and alcohol with an emphasis on cross-species methodology and neural circuitry.

Effects of self-administered methamphetamine on discrimination learning and reversal in nonhuman primates

RATIONALE

Frequent exposure to methamphetamine has been reported to adversely influence cognitive behavior and, in particular, inhibitory control processes.

OBJECTIVE

The present studies were conducted in squirrel monkeys to assess the effects of daily intravenous methamphetamine self-administration on touch screen-based repeated acquisition and discrimination reversal tasks thought to reflect behavioral dimensions of, respectively, learning and response inhibition.

METHODS

First, stable methamphetamine-maintained behavior was established in each subject (0.35-1.6 mg/kg/session), and subsequently, a second daily session of discrimination learning was conducted (20 h later). Subjects first learned to discriminate between two simultaneously presented stimuli (acquisition) and, subsequently, to re-learn the discrimination with the contingencies switched (reversal). The role of the interval between self-administration and touch screen sessions was evaluated, as well as the effects of abrupt methamphetamine discontinuation.

RESULTS

Results indicate that daily methamphetamine self-administration markedly disrupted the development of discrimination learning, initially requiring nearly twice the number of trials to master discriminations. The magnitude of adverse effects in individual subjects correlated to the level of daily methamphetamine intake. Importantly, however, behavioral disruption of discrimination learning was surmounted following remedial training. Once criterion levels of discrimination performance were achieved, subsequent development of reversal performance was largely unaffected except when the interval between self-administration and touch screen session was short and, thus, likely a result of methamphetamine’s direct effects. Discontinuation of methamphetamine produced no disruption in acquisition or reversal.

CONCLUSION

These results indicate that self-administered methamphetamine can markedly disrupt learning processes and highlight key differences in its effects on different aspects of discrimination learning.

Acute effects of cocaine and cannabis on reversal learning as a function of COMT and DRD2 genotype

RATIONALE

Long-term cannabis and cocaine use has been associated with impairments in reversal learning. However, how acute cannabis and cocaine administration affect reversal learning in humans is not known.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we aimed to establish the acute effects of administration of cannabis and cocaine on valence-dependent reversal learning as a function of DRD2 Taq1A (rs1800497) and COMT Val108/158Met (rs4680) genotype.

METHODS

A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized 3-way crossover design was used. Sixty-one regular poly-drug users completed a deterministic reversal learning task under the influence of cocaine, cannabis, and placebo that enabled assessment of both reward- and punishment-based reversal learning.

RESULTS

Proportion correct on the reversal learning task was increased by cocaine, but decreased by cannabis. Effects of cocaine depended on the DRD2 genotype, as increases in proportion correct were seen only in the A1 carriers, and not in the A2/A2 homozygotes. COMT genotype did not modulate drug-induced effects on reversal learning.

CONCLUSIONS

These data indicate that acute administration of cannabis and cocaine has opposite effects on reversal learning. The effects of cocaine, but not cannabis, depend on interindividual genetic differences in the dopamine D2 receptor gene.

Escaping the Golden Cage: Animal Models of Eating Disorders in the Post-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Era

Eating disorders (EDs) are severe, life-threatening mental illnesses characterized by marked disturbances in body image and eating patterns. Attempts to understand the neurobiological basis of EDs have been hindered by the perception that EDs are primarily socially reinforced behaviors and not the result of a pathophysiologic process. This view is reflected by the diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which emphasize intrapsychic conflicts such as "inability to maintain body weight," "undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation," and "denial of the seriousness of low body weight" over neuropsychological measures. The neuropsychological constructs introduced within the research domain criteria (RDoC) matrix offer new hope for determining the neural substrate underlying the biological predisposition to EDs. We present selected studies demonstrating deficits in patients with EDs within each domain of the RDoC and propose a set of behavioral tasks in model systems that reflect aspects of that deficit. Finally, we propose a battery of tasks to examine comprehensively the function of neural circuits relevant to the development of EDs.

Striatal Dopamine D2/D3 Receptor Availability Is Associated with Executive Function in Healthy Controls but Not Methamphetamine Users

Background

Dopamine D₂/D₃ receptor availability in the striatum has been linked with executive function in healthy individuals, and is below control levels among drug addicts, possibly contributing to diminished executive function in the latter group. This study tested for an association of striatal D₂/D₃ receptor availability with a measure of executive function among research participants who met DSM-IV criteria for methamphetamine dependence.

Methods

Methamphetamine users and non-user controls (n = 18 per group) completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and positron emission tomography with [¹⁸F]fallypride.

Results

The methamphetamine users displayed significantly lower striatal D₂/D₃ receptor availability on average than controls after controlling for age and education (p = 0.008), but they did not register greater proportions of either perseverative or non-perseverative errors when controlling for education (both ps ≥ 0.622). The proportion of non-perseverative, but not perseverative, errors was negatively correlated with striatal D₂/D₃ receptor availability among controls (r = -0.588, p = 0.010), but not methamphetamine users (r = 0.281, p = 0.258), and the group-wise interaction was significant (p = 0.030).

Conclusions

These results suggest that cognitive flexibility, as measured by perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, is not determined by signaling through striatal D₂/D₃ receptors in healthy controls, and that in stimulant abusers, who have lower D₂/D₃ receptor availability, compensation can effectively maintain other executive functions, which are associated with D₂/D₃ receptor signaling in controls.

Does compulsive behavior in Anorexia Nervosa resemble an addiction? A qualitative investigation

The characteristic relentless self-starvation behavior seen in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) has been described as evidence of compulsivity, with increasing suggestion of parallels with addictive behavior. This study used a thematic qualitative analysis to investigate the parallels between compulsive behavior in AN and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). Forty individuals currently suffering from AN completed an online questionnaire reflecting on their experience of compulsive behavior in AN. Eight main themes emerged from thematic qualitative analysis; compulsivity as central to AN, impaired control, escalating compulsions, emotional triggers, negative reactions, detrimental continuation of behavior, functional impairment, and role in recovery. These results suggested that individuals with AN view the compulsive nature of their behavior as central to the maintenance of their disorder, and as a significant barrier to recovery. The themes that emerged also showed parallels with the DSM-V criteria for SUDs, mapping onto the four groups of criteria (impaired control, social impairment, risky use of substance, pharmacological criteria). These results emphasize the need for further research to explore the possible parallels in behavioral and neural underpinnings of compulsivity in AN and SUDs, which may inform novel treatment avenues for AN.

Shared and Distinct Cognitive/Affective Mechanisms in Intrusive Cognition: An Examination of Worry and Obsessions

Generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder are defined by chronic intrusive thoughts. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between cognitive (attentional control) and motivational (negative urgency) mechanisms potentially underlying worry and obsessions. Participants (N = 526) completed an online questionnaire battery consisting of self-report measures of worry, OCD symptoms, attentional control (AC), negative urgency (NU), and trait negative affect. After controlling for trait negative affect, self-reported AC was negatively related to worry, repugnant obsessions, and ordering symptoms. Greater NU was associated with increased worry and repugnant obsessions. Further, self-reported AC and NU interacted such that greater NU was associated with greater worry at high but not low levels of AC. AC and NU were independently associated with repugnant obsessions. Perceived executive functioning impairments may confer risk for intrusive thoughts, particularly worries, whereas distress-driven impulsivity may contribute to the involuntary, ego-dystonic features of intrusions.

Development of the uncinate fasciculus: Implications for theory and developmental disorders

The uncinate fasciculus (UF) is a long-range white matter tract that connects limbic regions in the temporal lobe to the frontal lobe. The UF is one of the latest developing tracts, and continues maturing into the third decade of life. As such, individual differences in the maturational profile of the UF may serve to explain differences in behavior. Indeed, atypical macrostructure and microstructure of the UF have been reported in numerous studies of individuals with developmental and psychiatric disorders such as social deprivation and maltreatment, autism spectrum disorders, conduct disorder, risk taking, and substance abuse. The present review evaluates what we currently know about the UF's developmental trajectory and reviews the literature relating UF abnormalities to specific disorders. Additionally, we take a dimensional approach and critically examine symptoms and behavioral impairments that have been demonstrated to cluster with UF aberrations, in an effort to relate these impairments to our speculations regarding the functionality of the UF. We suggest that developmental disorders with core problems relating to memory retrieval, reward and valuation computation, and impulsive decision making may be linked to aberrations in uncinate microstructure.

Neural substrates of cognitive flexibility in cocaine and gambling addictions

BACKGROUND

Individuals with cocaine and gambling addictions exhibit cognitive flexibility deficits that may underlie persistence of harmful behaviours.

AIMS

We investigated the neural substrates of cognitive inflexibility in cocaine users v. pathological gamblers, aiming to disambiguate common mechanisms v. cocaine effects.

METHOD

Eighteen cocaine users, 18 pathological gamblers and 18 controls performed a probabilistic reversal learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, and were genotyped for the DRD2/ANKK Taq1A polymorphism.

RESULTS

Cocaine users and pathological gamblers exhibited reduced ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) signal during reversal shifting. Cocaine users further showed increased dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC) activation relative to pathological gamblers during perseveration, and decreased dorsolateral PFC activation relative to pathological gamblers and controls during shifting. Preliminary genetic findings indicated that cocaine users carrying the DRD2/ANKK Taq1A1+ genotype may derive unique stimulatory effects on shifting-related ventrolateral PFC signal.

CONCLUSIONS

Reduced ventrolateral PFC activation during shifting may constitute a common neural marker across gambling and cocaine addictions. Additional cocaine-related effects relate to a wider pattern of task-related dysregulation, reflected in signal abnormalities in dorsolateral and dmPFC.

What the orbitofrontal cortex does not do

The number of papers about the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has grown from 1 per month in 1987 to a current rate of over 50 per month. This publication stream has implicated the OFC in nearly every function known to cognitive neuroscience and in most neuropsychiatric diseases. However, new ideas about OFC function are typically based on limited data sets and often ignore or minimize competing ideas or contradictory findings. Yet true progress in our understanding of an area's function comes as much from invalidating existing ideas as proposing new ones. Here we consider the proposed roles for OFC, critically examining the level of support for these claims and highlighting the data that call them into question.

A functional polymorphism in the prodynorphin gene affects cognitive flexibility and brain activation during reversal learning

Whether the opioid system plays a role in the ability to flexibly adapt behavior is still unclear. We used fMRI to investigate the effect of a nucleotide tandem repeat (68-bp VNTR) functional polymorphism of the prodynorphin (PDYN) gene on cerebral activation during a reversal learning task in which participants had to flexibly adapt stimulus-response associations. Past studies suggested that alleles with 3 or 4 repeats (HH genotype) of this polymorphism are associated with higher levels of dynorphin peptides than alleles with 1 or 2 repeats (LL genotype). On the behavioral level, the HH group made more perseverative errors than the LL group. On the neural level, the HH group demonstrated less engagement of left orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) and cortico-striatal circuitry, and lower effective connectivity of lOFC with anterior midcingulate cortex and anterior insula/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during reversal learning and processing negative feedback. This points to a lower ability of the HH genotype to monitor or adapt to changes in reward contingencies. These findings provide first evidence that dynorphins may contribute to individual differences in reversal learning, and that considering the opioid system may shed new light on the neurochemical correlates of decision-making and behavioral regulation.

The rat's not for turning: Dissociating the psychological components of cognitive inflexibility

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Non-rewarded or irrelevant prior associations are important for flexible responding.

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Associations of reward and non-reward in reversal learning are neurally dissociable.

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Disruption of prior irrelevant or rewarded associations cause pathological deficits.

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Experimental paradigms of cognitive flexibility can be improved to aid translation.

Executive function is commonly assessed by assays of cognitive flexibility such as reversal learning and attentional set-shifting. Disrupted performance in these assays, apparent in many neuropsychiatric disorders, is frequently interpreted as inability to overcome prior associations with reward.

However, non-rewarded or irrelevant associations may be of considerable importance in both discrimination learning and cognitive flexibility. Non-rewarded associations can have greater influence on choice behaviour than rewarded associations in discrimination learning. Pathology-related deficits in cognitive flexibility can produce selective disruptions to both the processing of irrelevant associations and associations with reward. Genetic and pharmacological animal models demonstrate that modulation of reversal learning may result from alterations in either rewarded or non-rewarded associations.

Successful performance in assays of cognitive flexibility can therefore depend on a combination of rewarded, non-rewarded, and irrelevant associations derived from previous learning, accounting for some inconsistencies observed in the literature. Taking this combination into account may increase the validity of animal models and may also reveal pathology-specific differences in problem solving and executive function.

Fronto-temporal white matter connectivity predicts reversal learning errors

Each day, we make hundreds of decisions. In some instances, these decisions are guided by our innate needs; in other instances they are guided by memory. Probabilistic reversal learning tasks exemplify the close relationship between decision making and memory, as subjects are exposed to repeated pairings of a stimulus choice with a reward or punishment outcome. After stimulus-outcome associations have been learned, the associated reward contingencies are reversed, and participants are not immediately aware of this reversal. Individual differences in the tendency to choose the previously rewarded stimulus reveal differences in the tendency to make poorly considered, inflexible choices. Lesion studies have strongly linked reversal learning performance to the functioning of the orbitofrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and in some instances, the amygdala. Here, we asked whether individual differences in the microstructure of the uncinate fasciculus, a white matter tract that connects anterior and medial temporal lobe regions to the orbitofrontal cortex, predict reversal learning performance. Diffusion tensor imaging and behavioral paradigms were used to examine this relationship in 33 healthy young adults. The results of tractography revealed a significant negative relationship between reversal learning performance and uncinate axial diffusivity, but no such relationship was demonstrated in a control tract, the inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Our findings suggest that the uncinate might serve to integrate associations stored in the anterior and medial temporal lobes with expectations about expected value based on feedback history, computed in the orbitofrontal cortex.

Synaptic Cytoskeletal Plasticity in the Prefrontal Cortex Following Psychostimulant Exposure

Addiction is characterized by maladaptive decision-making, a loss of control over drug consumption and habit-like drug seeking despite adverse consequences. These cognitive changes may reflect the effects of drugs of abuse on prefrontal cortical neurobiology. Here, we review evidence that amphetamine and cocaine fundamentally remodel the structure of excitatory neurons in the prefrontal cortex. We summarize evidence in particular that these psychostimulants have opposing effects in the medial and orbital prefrontal cortices ('mPFC' and 'oPFC', respectively). For example, amphetamine and cocaine increase dendrite length and spine density in the mPFC, while dendrites are impoverished and dendritic spines are eliminated in the oPFC. We will discuss evidence that certain cytoskeletal regulatory proteins expressed in the oPFC and implicated in postnatal (adolescent) neural development also regulate behavioral sensitivity to cocaine. These findings potentially open a window of opportunity for the identification of novel pharmacotherapeutic targets in the treatment of drug abuse disorders in adults, as well as in drug-vulnerable adolescent populations. Finally, we will discuss the behavioral implications of drug-related dendritic spine elimination in the oPFC, with regard to reversal learning tasks and tasks that assess the development of reward-seeking habits, both used to model aspects of addiction in rodents.

Early Adolescent Emergence of Reversal Learning Impairments in Isolation-Reared Rats

Cognitive impairments appear early in the progression of schizophrenia, often preceding the symptoms of psychosis. Thus, the systems subserving these functions may be more vulnerable to, and mechanistically linked with, the initial pathology. Understanding the trajectory of behavioral and anatomical abnormalities relevant to the schizophrenia prodrome and their sensitivity to interventions in relevant models will be critical to identifying early therapeutic strategies. Isolation rearing of rats is an environmental perturbation that deprives rodents of social contact from weaning through adulthood and produces behavioral and neuronal abnormalities that mirror some pathophysiology associated with schizophrenia, e.g. frontal cortex abnormalities and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle deficits. Previously, we showed that PPI deficits in isolation-reared rats emerge in mid-adolescence (4 weeks after weaning; approx. postnatal day 52) but are not present when tested at 2 weeks after weaning (approx. postnatal day 38). Because cognitive deficits are reported during early adolescence, are relevant to the prodrome, and are linked to functional outcome, we examined the putative time course of reversal learning deficits in isolation-reared rats. Separate groups of male Sprague Dawley rats were tested in a two-choice discrimination task at 2 and 8 weeks after weaning, on postnatal day 38 and 80, respectively. The isolation-reared rats displayed impaired reversal learning at both time points. Isolation rearing was also associated with deficits in PPI at 4 and 10 weeks after weaning. The reversal learning deficits in the isolated rats were accompanied by reductions in parvalbumin immunoreactivity, a marker for specific subpopulations of GABAergic neurons, in the hippocampus. Hence, isolation rearing of rats may offer a unique model to examine the ontogeny of behavioral and neurobiological alterations that may be relevant to preclinical models of prodromal psychosis. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Post-training depletions of basolateral amygdala serotonin fail to disrupt discrimination, retention, or reversal learning

In goal-directed pursuits, the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical in learning about changes in the value of rewards. BLA-lesioned rats show enhanced reversal learning, a task employed to measure the flexibility of response to changes in reward. Similarly, there is a trend for enhanced discrimination learning, suggesting that BLA may modulate formation of stimulus-reward associations. There is a parallel literature on the importance of serotonin (5HT) in new stimulus-reward and reversal learning. Recent postulations implicate 5HT in learning from punishment. Whereas, dopaminergic involvement is critical in behavioral activation and reinforcement, 5HT may be most critical for aversive processing and behavioral inhibition, complementary cognitive processes. Given these findings, a 5HT-mediated mechanism in BLA may mediate the facilitated learning observed previously. The present study investigated the effects of selective 5HT lesions in BLA using 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) vs. infusions of saline (Sham) on discrimination, retention, and deterministic reversal learning. Rats were required to reach an 85% correct pairwise discrimination and single reversal criterion prior to surgery. Postoperatively, rats were then tested on the (1) retention of the pretreatment discrimination pair, (2) discrimination of a novel pair, and (3) reversal learning performance. We found statistically comparable preoperative learning rates between groups, intact postoperative retention, and unaltered novel discrimination and reversal learning in 5,7-DHT rats. These findings suggest that 5HT in BLA is not required for formation and flexible adjustment of new stimulus-reward associations when the strategy to efficiently solve the task has already been learned. Given the complementary role of orbitofrontal cortex in reward learning and its interconnectivity with BLA, these findings add to the list of dissociable mechanisms for BLA and orbitofrontal cortex in reward learning.

Cocaine use severity and cerebellar gray matter are associated with reversal learning deficits in cocaine-dependent individuals

Cocaine addiction involves persistent deficits to unlearn previously rewarded response options, potentially due to neuroadaptations in learning-sensitive regions. Cocaine-targeted prefrontal systems have been consistently associated with reinforcement learning and reversal deficits, but more recent interspecies research has raised awareness about the contribution of the cerebellum to cocaine addiction and reversal. We aimed at investigating the link between cocaine use, reversal learning and prefrontal, insula and cerebellar gray matter in cocaine-dependent individuals (CDIs) varying on levels of cocaine exposure in comparison with healthy controls (HCs). Twenty CDIs and 21 HCs performed a probabilistic reversal learning task (PRLT) and were subsequently scanned in a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner. In the PRLT, subjects progressively learn to respond to one predominantly reinforced stimulus, and then must learn to respond according to the opposite, previously irrelevant, stimulus-reward pairing. Performance measures were errors after reversal (reversal cost), and probability of maintaining response after errors. Voxel-based morphometry was conducted to investigate the association between gray matter volume in the regions of interest and cocaine use and PRLT performance. Severity of cocaine use correlated with gray matter volume reduction in the left cerebellum (lobule VIII), while greater reversal cost was correlated with gray matter volume reduction in a partially overlapping cluster (lobules VIIb and VIII). Right insula/inferior frontal gyrus correlated with probability of maintaining response after errors. Severity of cocaine use detrimentally impacted reversal learning and cerebellar gray matter.

Contributions of β2 subunit-containing nAChRs to chronic nicotine-induced alterations in cognitive flexibility in mice

RATIONALE

Deficits in executive functions underlie compulsive drug use, and understanding how nicotine influences these cognitive processes may provide important information on neurobiological substrates of nicotine addiction. Accumulating evidence suggests that β2 subunit-containing nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) are involved in the reinforcing process of nicotine addiction. Whether these nAChRs also contributes to the detrimental effects of chronic nicotine on flexible decision-making is not known.

OBJECTIVES

In the present study, the effects of chronic nicotine were assessed in mice with partial or complete deletion of the β2 subunit-containing nAChR gene (β2+/- or β2-/-) performing an operant cognitive flexibility task.

RESULTS

Visual discrimination learning was not affected in saline-treated β2 nAChR mutants as compared to the wild-type (β2+/+) mice; yet, chronic nicotine facilitated acquisition of visual discrimination in all genotypes. The acquisition of new egocentric response strategy set-shifting remained similar in all genotypes, and there was no effect of treatment. Chronic nicotine treatment impaired reversal learning in β2+/+ mice by increasing response perseveration to the previously rewarded stimulus. Moreover, the acquisition of inverted stimulus-reward contingencies did not differ between β2+/+ and β2-/- mice exposed to chronic nicotine. Interestingly, nicotine-induced reversal learning deficits were not observed in β2+/- mice.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, these findings suggest that β2 subunit-containing nAChRs are not critical for visual discrimination learning and extra dimensional rule shift. However, sustained activation of these nAChRs with nicotine may interfere with inhibitory control processes influencing affective shifts in stimulus-reward contingencies.

A hypothesis about how early developmental methylmercury exposure disrupts behavior in adulthood

Events that disrupt the early development of the nervous system have lifelong, irreversible behavioral consequences. The environmental contaminant, methylmercury (MeHg), impairs neural development with effects that are manifested well into adulthood and even into aging. Noting the sensitivity of the developing brain to MeHg, the current review advances an argument that one outcome of early MeHg exposure is a distortion in the processing of reinforcing consequences that results in impaired choice, poor inhibition of prepotent responding, and perseveration on discrimination reversals (in the absence of alteration of extradimensional shifts). Neurochemical correlates include increased sensitivity to dopamine agonists and decreased sensitivity to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonists. This leads to a hypothesis that the prefrontal cortex or dopamine neurotransmission is especially sensitive to even subtle gestational MeHg exposure and suggests that public health assessments of MeHg based on intellectual performance may underestimate the impact of MeHg in public health. Finally, those interested in modeling neural development may benefit from MeHg as an experimental model.

In the blink of an eye: relating positive-feedback sensitivity to striatal dopamine D2-like receptors through blink rate

For >30 years, positron emission tomography (PET) has proven to be a powerful approach for measuring aspects of dopaminergic transmission in the living human brain; this technique has revealed important relationships between dopamine D2-like receptors and dimensions of normal behavior, such as human impulsivity, and psychopathology, particularly behavioral addictions. Nevertheless, PET is an indirect estimate that lacks cellular and functional resolution and, in some cases, is not entirely pharmacologically specific. To identify the relationships between PET estimates of D2-like receptor availability and direct in vitro measures of receptor number, affinity, and function, we conducted neuroimaging and behavioral and molecular pharmacological assessments in a group of adult male vervet monkeys. Data gathered from these studies indicate that variation in D2-like receptor PET measurements is related to reversal-learning performance and sensitivity to positive feedback and is associated with in vitro estimates of the density of functional dopamine D2-like receptors. Furthermore, we report that a simple behavioral measure, eyeblink rate, reveals novel and crucial links between neuroimaging assessments and in vitro measures of dopamine D2 receptors.

Abnormal modulation of reward versus punishment learning by a dopamine D2-receptor antagonist in pathological gamblers

RATIONALE

Pathological gambling has been associated with dopamine transmission abnormalities, in particular dopamine D2-receptor deficiency, and reversal learning deficits. Moreover, pervasive theoretical accounts suggest a key role for dopamine in reversal learning. However, there is no empirical evidence for a direct link between dopamine, reversal learning and pathological gambling.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study is to triangulate dopamine, reversal learning, and pathological gambling.

METHODS

Here, we assess the hypothesis that pathological gambling is accompanied by dopamine-related problems with learning from reward and punishment by investigating effects of the dopamine D2-receptor antagonist sulpiride (400 mg) on reward- and punishment-based reversal learning in 18 pathological gamblers and 22 healthy controls, using a placebo-controlled, double-blind, counter-balanced design.

RESULTS

In line with previous studies, blockade of D2 receptors with sulpiride impaired reward versus punishment reversal learning in controls. By contrast, sulpiride did not have any outcome-specific effects in gamblers.

CONCLUSION

These data demonstrate that pathological gambling is associated with a dopamine-related anomaly in reversal learning from reward and punishment.

Behavioral assessment of acute inhibition of system xc (-) in rats

RATIONALE

Gaps in our understanding of glutamatergic signaling may be key obstacles in accurately modeling complex CNS diseases. System xc (-) is an example of a poorly understood component of glutamate homeostasis that has the potential to contribute to CNS diseases.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to determine whether system xc (-) contributes to behaviors used to model features of CNS disease states.

METHODS

In situ hybridization was used to map mRNA expression of xCT throughout the brain. Microdialysis in the prefrontal cortex was used to sample extracellular glutamate levels; HPLC was used to measure extracellular glutamate and tissue glutathione concentrations. Acute administration of sulfasalazine (8-16 mg/kg, IP) was used to decrease system xc (-) activity. Behavior was measured using attentional set shifting, elevated plus maze, open-field maze, Porsolt swim test, and social interaction paradigm.

RESULTS

The expression of xCT mRNA was detected throughout the brain, with high expression in several structures including the basolateral amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Doses of sulfasalazine that produced a reduction in extracellular glutamate levels were identified and subsequently used in the behavioral experiments. Sulfasalazine impaired performance in attentional set shifting and reduced the amount of time spent in an open arm of an elevated plus maze and the center of an open-field maze without altering behavior in a Porsolt swim test, total distance moved in an open-field maze, or social interaction.

CONCLUSIONS

The widespread distribution of system xc (-) and involvement in a growing list of behaviors suggests that this form of nonvesicular glutamate release is a key component of excitatory signaling.

Individual variability in visual discrimination and reversal learning performance in common marmosets

Detailed information about the characteristics of learning behavior in marmosets is useful for future marmoset research. We trained 42 marmosets in visual discrimination and reversal learning. All marmosets could learn visual discrimination, and all but one could complete reversal learning, though some marmosets failed to touch the visual stimuli and were screened out. In 87% of measurements, the final percentage of correct responses was over 95%. We quantified performance with two measures: onset trial and dynamic interval. Onset trial represents the number of trials that elapsed before the marmoset started to learn. Dynamic interval represents the number of trials from the start before reaching the final percentage of correct responses. Both measures decreased drastically as a result of the formation of discrimination learning sets. In reversal learning, both measures worsened, but the effect on onset trial was far greater. The effects of age and sex were not significant as far as we used adolescent or young adult marmosets. Unexpectedly, experimental circumstance (in the colony or isolator) had only a subtle effect on performance. However, we found that marmosets from different families exhibited different learning process characteristics, suggesting some family effect on learning.

Banishing the Control Homunculi in Studies of Action Control and Behavior Change

For centuries, human self-control has fascinated scientists and nonscientists alike. Current theories often attribute it to an executive control system. But even though executive control receives a great deal of attention across disciplines, most aspects of it are still poorly understood. Many theories rely on an ill-defined set of "homunculi" doing jobs like "response inhibition" or "updating" without explaining how they do so. Furthermore, it is not always appreciated that control takes place across different timescales. These two issues hamper major advances. Here we focus on the mechanistic basis for the executive control of actions. We propose that at the most basic level, action control depends on three cognitive processes: signal detection, action selection, and action execution. These processes are modulated via error-correction or outcome-evaluation mechanisms, preparation, and task rules maintained in working and long-term memory. We also consider how executive control of actions becomes automatized with practice and how people develop a control network. Finally, we discuss how the application of this unified framework in clinical domains can increase our understanding of control deficits and provide a theoretical basis for the development of novel behavioral change interventions.

Who are those "risk-taking adolescents"? Individual differences in developmental neuroimaging research

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Rates of development differ across brain regions linked to reward and inhibition.

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Adolescent risk-taking has been attributed in part to normative neurodevelopment.

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Significant risky behavior in mid-adolescence is not characteristic of typical youth.

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Youth with behavior disorders show increased behavioral and brain responses to reward.

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Maturational theories of adolescent risk-taking can consider individual differences.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has illuminated the development of human brain function. Some of this work in typically-developing youth has ostensibly captured neural underpinnings of adolescent behavior which is characterized by risk-seeking propensity, according to psychometric questionnaires and a wealth of anecdote. Notably, cross-sectional comparisons have revealed age-dependent differences between adolescents and other age groups in regional brain responsiveness to prospective or experienced rewards (usually greater in adolescents) or penalties (usually diminished in adolescents). These differences have been interpreted as reflecting an imbalance between motivational drive and behavioral control mechanisms, especially in mid-adolescence, thus promoting greater risk-taking. While intriguing, we caution here that researchers should be more circumspect in attributing clinically significant adolescent risky behavior to age-group differences in task-elicited fMRI responses from neurotypical subjects. This is because actual mortality and morbidity from behavioral causes (e.g. substance abuse, violence) by mid-adolescence is heavily concentrated in individuals who are not neurotypical, who rather have shown a lifelong history of behavioral disinhibition that frequently meets criteria for a disruptive behavior disorder, such as conduct disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. These young people are at extreme risk of poor psychosocial outcomes, and should be a focus of future neurodevelopmental research.

Compulsivity in anorexia nervosa: a transdiagnostic concept

The compulsive nature of weight loss behaviors central to anorexia nervosa (AN), such as relentless self-starvation and over-exercise, has led to the suggestion of parallels between AN and other compulsive disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and addictions. There is a huge unmet need for effective treatments in AN, which has high rates of morbidity and the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, yet a grave paucity of effective treatments. Viewing compulsivity as a transdiagnostic concept, seen in various manifestations across disorders, may help delineate the mechanisms responsible for the persistence of AN, and aid treatment development. We explore models of compulsivity that suggest dysfunction in cortico-striatal circuitry underpins compulsive behavior, and consider evidence of aberrancies in this circuitry across disorders. Excessive habit formation is considered as a mechanism by which initially rewarding weight loss behavior in AN may become compulsive over time, and the complex balance between positive and negative reinforcement in this process is considered. The physiological effects of starvation in promoting compulsivity, positive reinforcement, and habit formation are also discussed. Further research in AN may benefit from a focus on processes potentially underlying the development of compulsivity, such as aberrant reward processing and habit formation. We discuss the implications of a transdiagnostic perspective on compulsivity, and how it may contribute to the development of novel treatments for AN.

Alpha-synuclein deletion decreases motor impulsivity but does not affect risky decision making in a mouse Gambling Task

RATIONALE

There is evidence to support the role of alpha-synuclein in motor impulsivity, but the extrapolation of this finding to other types of impulsivity remains to be elucidated.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the role of alpha-synuclein in choice impulsivity/risky decision-making by means of a mouse version of the Iowa Gambling Task (mIGT).

METHODS

Two strains of mice that differ in the expression of the alpha-synuclein gene, the C57BL/6JOlaHsd (HA) and C57BL/6J (CR), were tested in the mIGT. HA mice differ from their CR ancestors in possessing a chromosomal deletion resulting in the loss of two genes: snca, encoding alpha-synuclein and mmrn1, encoding multimerin-1. Mice were trained in the mIGT until a stable pattern of responding was achieved and then the acute effects of ethanol and cocaine in choice preference were investigated.

RESULTS

No differences between the strains were evident in risky decision-making in any of the experiments, but HA mice showed consistently reduced levels of premature responding in comparison with CR mice, confirming the reduced motor impulsivity found in a previous study. Ethanol did not modify the percentage of advantageous choices in either strain, while cocaine increased the risky choice behaviour by increasing the percentage of disadvantageous choices in both strains.

CONCLUSIONS

We provide further evidence for the involvement of alpha-synuclein in motor impulsivity and suggest that alpha-synuclein does not play a role in risky decision-making as evaluated in the mIGT.

Contingency learning in alcohol dependence and pathological gambling: learning and unlearning reward contingencies

Background

Patients with alcohol dependence (AD) and pathological gambling (PG) are characterized by dysfunctional reward processing and their ability to adapt to alterations of reward contingencies is impaired. However, most neurocognitive tasks investigating reward processing involve a complex mix of elements, such as working memory, immediate and delayed rewards, and risk-taking. As a consequence, it is not clear whether contingency learning is altered in AD or PG. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine performance in a deterministic contingency learning task, investigating discrimination, reversal, and extinction learning.

Methods

Thirty-three alcohol-dependent patients (ADs), 28 pathological gamblers (PGs), and 18 healthy controls (HCs) performed a contingency learning task in which they learned stimulus–reward associations that were first reversed and later extinguished while receiving deterministic feedback throughout. Accumulated points, number of perseverative errors and trials required to reach a criterion in each learning phase were compared between groups using nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum tests. Regression analyses were performed to compare learning curves.

Results

PGs and ADs did not differ from HCs in discrimination learning, reversal learning, or extinction learning, on the nonparametric tests. Regression analyses, however, showed differences in the initial speed of learning: PGs were significantly faster in discrimination learning compared to ADs, and both PGs and ADs learned slower than HCs in the reversal learning and extinction phases of the task.

Conclusions

Learning rates for reversal and extinction were slower for the alcohol-dependent group and PG group compared to HCs, suggesting that reversing and extinguishing learned contingencies require more effort in ADs and PGs. This implicates a diminished flexibility to overcome previously learned contingencies.

Long-term effects of exposure to methamphetamine in adolescent rats

BACKGROUND

Flexible cognition is a set of processes mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), an area of the brain that continues to develop during adolescence and into adulthood. Adult rodents exhibit impairments specific to reversal learning across various dosing regimens of methamphetamine (mAMPH). For adolescent rodents, ongoing PFC development can be assessed by discrimination reversal learning, a task dependent on frontostriatal integrity. The task may also index an increased vulnerability for mAMPH sampling in adulthood.

METHODS

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the long-term effects of escalating, adolescent mAMPH exposure on reversal learning, a PFC-dependent task (Experiment 1) and the likelihood of later sampling of mAMPH in adulthood (Experiment 2).

RESULTS

Unlike previous research in adult-treated rats, our results show more generalized learning impairments after adolescent mAMPH exposure to include both attenuated visual discrimination as well as reversal learning. Additionally, we found that rats pre-exposed to mAMPH during adolescence consumed significantly more drug in adulthood. Intake of mAMPH was positively correlated with this learning. Taken together, these findings show that even modest exposure to mAMPH during adolescence may induce general learning impairments in adulthood, and an enduring sensitivity to the effects of mAMPH.

Using mice to model Alzheimer's dementia: an overview of the clinical disease and the preclinical behavioral changes in 10 mouse models

The goal of this review is to discuss how behavioral tests in mice relate to the pathological and neuropsychological features seen in human Alzheimer's disease (AD), and present a comprehensive analysis of the temporal progression of behavioral impairments in commonly used AD mouse models that contain mutations in amyloid precursor protein (APP). We begin with a brief overview of the neuropathological changes seen in the AD brain and an outline of some of the clinical neuropsychological assessments used to measure cognitive deficits associated with the disease. This is followed by a critical assessment of behavioral tasks that are used in AD mice to model the cognitive changes seen in the human disease. Behavioral tests discussed include spatial memory tests [Morris water maze (MWM), radial arm water maze (RAWM), Barnes maze], associative learning tasks (passive avoidance, fear conditioning), alternation tasks (Y-Maze/T-Maze), recognition memory tasks (Novel Object Recognition), attentional tasks (3 and 5 choice serial reaction time), set-shifting tasks, and reversal learning tasks. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of these behavioral tasks, and how they may correlate with clinical assessments in humans. Finally, the temporal progression of both cognitive and non-cognitive deficits in 10 AD mouse models (PDAPP, TG2576, APP23, TgCRND8, J20, APP/PS1, TG2576 + PS1 (M146L), APP/PS1 KI, 5×FAD, and 3×Tg-AD) are discussed in detail. Mouse models of AD and the behavioral tasks used in conjunction with those models are immensely important in contributing to our knowledge of disease progression and are a useful tool to study AD pathophysiology and the resulting cognitive deficits. However, investigators need to be aware of the potential weaknesses of the available preclinical models in terms of their ability to model cognitive changes observed in human AD. It is our hope that this review will assist investigators in selecting an appropriate mouse model, and accompanying behavioral paradigms to investigate different aspects of AD pathology and disease progression.

Optimizing treatments for nicotine dependence by increasing cognitive performance during withdrawal

INTRODUCTION

Current FDA-approved smoking cessation pharmacotherapies have limited efficacy and are associated with high rates of relapse. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop novel antismoking medications. Nicotine withdrawal is associated with cognitive impairments that predict smoking relapse. It has been proposed that these cognitive deficits are a hallmark of nicotine withdrawal that could be targeted in order to prevent smoking relapse. Thus, pharmacotherapies that increase cognitive performance during nicotine withdrawal may represent potential smoking cessation agents.

AREAS COVERED

The authors review the clinical literature demonstrating that nicotine withdrawal is associated with deficits in working memory, attention and response inhibition. They then briefly summarize different classes of compounds and strategies to increase cognitive performance during nicotine withdrawal. Particular emphasis has been placed on translational research in order to highlight areas for which there is strong rationale for pilot clinical trials of potential smoking cessation medications.

EXPERT OPINION

There is emerging evidence that supports deficits in cognitive function as a plausible nicotine withdrawal phenotype. The authors furthermore believe that the translational paradigms presented here may represent efficient and valid means for the evaluation of cognitive-enhancing medications as possible treatments for nicotine dependence.

Dissecting impulsivity and its relationships to drug addictions

Addictions are often characterized as forms of impulsive behavior. That said, it is often noted that impulsivity is a multidimensional construct, spanning several psychological domains. This review describes the relationship between varieties of impulsivity and addiction-related behaviors, the nature of the causal relationship between the two, and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that promote impulsive behaviors. We conclude that the available data strongly support the notion that impulsivity is both a risk factor for, and a consequence of, drug and alcohol consumption. While the evidence indicating that subtypes of impulsive behavior are uniquely informative--either biologically or with respect to their relationships to addictions--is convincing, multiple lines of study link distinct subtypes of impulsivity to low dopamine D2 receptor function and perturbed serotonergic transmission, revealing shared mechanisms between the subtypes. Therefore, a common biological framework involving monoaminergic transmitters in key frontostriatal circuits may link multiple forms of impulsivity to drug self-administration and addiction-related behaviors. Further dissection of these relationships is needed before the next phase of genetic and genomic discovery will be able to reveal the biological sources of the vulnerability for addiction indexed by impulsivity.

Strains and stressors: an analysis of touchscreen learning in genetically diverse mouse strains

Touchscreen-based systems are growing in popularity as a tractable, translational approach for studying learning and cognition in rodents. However, while mouse strains are well known to differ in learning across various settings, performance variation between strains in touchscreen learning has not been well described. The selection of appropriate genetic strains and backgrounds is critical to the design of touchscreen-based studies and provides a basis for elucidating genetic factors moderating behavior. Here we provide a quantitative foundation for visual discrimination and reversal learning using touchscreen assays across a total of 35 genotypes. We found significant differences in operant performance and learning, including faster reversal learning in DBA/2J compared to C57BL/6J mice. We then assessed DBA/2J and C57BL/6J for differential sensitivity to an environmental insult by testing for alterations in reversal learning following exposure to repeated swim stress. Stress facilitated reversal learning (selectively during the late stage of reversal) in C57BL/6J, but did not affect learning in DBA/2J. To dissect genetic factors underlying these differences, we phenotyped a family of 27 BXD strains generated by crossing C57BL/6J and DBA/2J. There was marked variation in discrimination, reversal and extinction learning across the BXD strains, suggesting this task may be useful for identifying underlying genetic differences. Moreover, different measures of touchscreen learning were only modestly correlated in the BXD strains, indicating that these processes are comparatively independent at both genetic and phenotypic levels. Finally, we examined the behavioral structure of learning via principal component analysis of the current data, plus an archival dataset, totaling 765 mice. This revealed 5 independent factors suggestive of "reversal learning," "motivation-related late reversal learning," "discrimination learning," "speed to respond," and "motivation during discrimination." Together, these findings provide a valuable reference to inform the choice of strains and genetic backgrounds in future studies using touchscreen-based tasks.

Learning theory: a driving force in understanding orbitofrontal function

Since it was demonstrated the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical to reversal learning, there has been considerable interest in specifying its role in flexible, outcome-guided behavior. Behavioral paradigms from the learning theory tradition, such as outcome devaluation, blocking, Pavlovian to instrumental transfer, and overexpectation have been a driving force in this research. The use of these procedures has revealed OFC's unique role in forming and integrating information about specific features of events and outcomes to drive behavior and learning. These studies highlight the power and importance of learning theory principles in guiding neuroscience research.