Quantity versus quality: Convergent findings in effort-based choice tasks

C. elegans food choice exhibits effort discounting-like behavior

Cost-benefit decisions are ubiquitous in both human and animal behavior. Economists have developed formal models of cost-benefit decision-making by focusing on discounting behavior, the devaluation of a reward based on the costs associated with it. The phylogenetic limits of discounting behavior remain unknown. Here, we provide evidence that the nematode C. elegans exhibits behavior closely resembling effort discounting. Given a choice between food options that are easy or difficult to consume, worms devalue the latter in a manner predicted by economic models. We identified a plausible mechanism for this behavior based on differential rates of leaving food patches and demonstrated that this mechanism is disrupted by deficits in dopamine signaling, as in rodents. Together, these results establish C. elegans as a potential invertebrate model for discounting behavior and set new phylogenetic bounds on this type of cost-benefit decision-making.

Pharmacological characterization of sex differences in the effects of dopaminergic drugs on effort-based decision making in rats

RATIONALE

Motivational dysfunctions related to effort exertion are common in psychiatric disorders. Dopamine systems regulate exertion of effort and effort-based choice in humans and rodents.

OBJECTIVES

Previous rodent studies mainly employed male rats, and it is imperative to conduct studies in male and female rats.

METHODS

The present studies compared the effort-related effects of IP injections of the dopamine antagonists ecopipam and haloperidol, and the vesicular monoamine transport-2 inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ), in male and female rats using the fixed ratio 5/chow feeding choice task.

RESULTS

Ecopipam (0.05-0.2 mg/kg) and haloperidol (0.05-0.15 mg/kg) induced a low-effort bias, decreasing lever pressing and increasing chow intake in males and females in the same dose range. With lever pressing, there was a modest but significant dose x sex interaction after ecopipam injection, but there was no significant interaction after administration of haloperidol. In the first study with TBZ (0.25-1.0 mg/kg), there was a robust sex difference. TBZ shifted choice from lever pressing to chow intake in male rats, but was ineffective in females. In a second experiment, 2.0 mg/kg affected choice behavior in both males and females. TBZ increased accumbens c-Fos immunoreactivity in a sex-dependent manner, with males significantly increasing at 1.0 mg/kg, while females showed augmented immunoreactivity at 2.0 mg/kg.

CONCLUSIONS

The neural and behavioral effects of TBZ differed across sexes, emphasizing the importance of conducting studies in male and female rats. This research has implications for understanding the effort-related motivational dysfunctions seen in psychopathology.

A stress-sensitive frontostriatal circuit supporting effortful reward-seeking behavior

Effort valuation-a process for selecting actions based on the anticipated value of rewarding outcomes and expectations about the work required to obtain them-plays a fundamental role in decision-making. Effort valuation is disrupted in chronic stress states and is supported by the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), but the circuit-level mechanisms by which the ACC regulates effort-based decision-making are unclear. Here, we show that ACC neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens (ACC-NAc) play a critical role in effort valuation behavior in mice. Activity in ACC-NAc cells integrates both reward- and effort-related information, encoding a reward-related signal that scales with effort requirements and is necessary for supporting future effortful decisions. Chronic corticosterone exposure reduces motivation, suppresses effortful reward-seeking, and disrupts ACC-NAc signals. Together, our results delineate a stress-sensitive ACC-NAc circuit that supports effortful reward-seeking behavior by integrating reward and effort signals and reinforcing effort allocation in the service of maximizing reward.

Cognitive cost of empathizing with mothers and strangers by Chinese college students

Background

Empathy is a choice and the product of a dynamic decision process based on motivation. The value trade-off in empathy is object-specific and people are more likely to empathize with ingroup, especially empathize with whom we are particularly concerned. The mother is an integral part of the self-concept, but the status of the mother in the self-concept of the eastern and western subjects was different. Previous studies have shown that mother is integrated in self-concept and share the same motivational hierarchy with self in Chinese brain.

Objectives

The study's purpose is to investigate the empathic choice for mothers in Chinese culture and its regulatory mechanism.

Methods

Three experiments were conducted to investigate whether Chinese college students would choose to empathize with their mothers. Experiment 1 used the Empathy Selection Task to examine the empathic choices between mother-other and stranger-other conditions with two blocks of 50 trials, and used the NASA Task Load Index to evaluate the cognitive costs for each deck option presented; Experiment 2 induced a disagreeable emotional state and replicate the same conditions of the experiment 1; Experiment 3 induced an agreeable emotional state and replicate the same conditions of the experiment one.

Results and conclusions

The results showed that: (1) participants tended to avoid empathizing with their mothers and strangers for to the cognitive cost; (2) participants were more likely to choose empathy when the target was their mother rather than when the target was a stranger-other, due to the social reward; and (3) participants were more likely to opt to empathize with their mothers when positive emotions towards their mothers were primed. The results suggested that empathy is a choice and the product of a dynamic decision process based on motivation and the value trade-off in empathy is object-specific.

A Food for All Seasons: Stability of Food Preferences in Gorillas across Testing Methods and Seasons

Decisions about which foods to use during training and enrichment for captive animals may be based on invalid assumptions about individuals’ preferences. It is important to assess the stability of food preferences given that one-time preferences are often used to inform which items are offered over a longer period of time. Presenting preference assessments using images of food items allows control over factors such as size, scent, and inadvertent cueing but requires validation. We presented three male gorillas with choices between randomly selected pairs of actual food items from their morning meal using PVC feeders. We also presented the gorillas with two-alternative forced-choice tests between images of these foods on a touchscreen computer. Ranked preferences were correlated across method and seasons. Furthermore, gorillas selected images of preferred over less preferred foods in a validation task on the touchscreen. However, selections of some food items changed within sessions, suggesting that preference may be relative to other contextual factors. Researchers should assess how choices affect subsequent preferences to understand whether animals demonstrate absolute preferences for particular food items, or prefer variety.

Translational opportunities in animal and human models to study alcohol use disorder

Animal and human laboratory paradigms offer invaluable approaches to study the complex etiologies and mechanisms of alcohol use disorder (AUD). We contend that human laboratory models provide a "bridge" between preclinical and clinical studies of AUD by allowing for well-controlled experimental manipulations in humans with AUD. As such, examining the consilience between experimental models in animals and humans in the laboratory provides unique opportunities to refine the translational utility of such models. The overall goal of the present review is to provide a systematic description and contrast of commonly used animal paradigms for the study of AUD, as well as their human laboratory analogs if applicable. While there is a wide breadth of animal species in AUD research, the paradigms discussed in this review rely predominately on rodent research. The overarching goal of this effort is to provide critical analysis of these animal models and to link them to human laboratory models of AUD. By systematically contrasting preclinical and controlled human laboratory models, we seek to identify opportunities to enhance their translational value through forward and reverse translation. We provide future directions to reconcile differences between animal and human work and to improve translational research for AUD.

Risk-Based Decision Making: A Systematic Scoping Review of Animal Models and a Pilot Study on the Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Rats

Animals, including humans, frequently make decisions involving risk or uncertainty. Different strategies in these decisions can be advantageous depending the circumstances. Short sleep duration seems to be associated with more risky decisions in humans. Animal models for risk-based decision making can increase mechanistic understanding, but very little data is available concerning the effects of sleep. We combined primary- and meta-research to explore the relationship between sleep and risk-based decision making in animals. Our first objective was to create an overview of the available animal models for risky decision making. We performed a systematic scoping review. Our searches in Pubmed and Psychinfo retrieved 712 references, of which 235 were included. Animal models for risk-based decision making have been described for rodents, non-human primates, birds, pigs and honey-bees. We discuss task designs and model validity. Our second objective was to apply this knowledge and perform a pilot study on the effect of sleep deprivation. We trained and tested male Wistar rats on a probability discounting task; a "safe" lever always resulted in 1 reward, a "risky" lever resulted in 4 or no rewards. Rats adapted their preferences to variations in reward probabilities (p < 0.001), but 12 h of sleep deprivation during the light phase did not clearly alter risk preference (p = 0.21).