Ventral striatal dopamine is thought to be important for associative learning. Dopamine exerts its role via activation of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the ventral striatum. Upregulation of dopamine D2R in ventral striatopallidal neurons impairs incentive motivation via inhibiting synaptic transmission to the ventral pallidum. Here, we determined whether upregulation of D2Rs and the resulting impairment in ventral striatopallidal pathway function modulates associative learning in an auditory Pavlovian reward learning task as well as Go/No-Go learning in an operant based reward driven Go/No-Go task. We found that upregulation of D2Rs did not affect Pavlovian learning or the extinction of Pavlovian responses, and neither did it alter No-Go learning. We however observed a delay in the Go component of the task which may indicate a deficit in learning though it could also be attributed to the established locomotor hyperactivity of the mice. In combination with previously published findings, our data suggest that D2Rs in ventral striatopallidal neurons play a specific role in regulating motivation by balancing cost/benefit computations but do not necessarily affect associative learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Previous evidence has shown that after conditioning reward cues may continue to grab attention even when the paired reward is devalued, thus triggering an irrational attentional capture. Here, we investigated whether such persistent cue attentional salience, once established, can be abolished. In Experiment 1, we first confirmed that the cue attentional salience outlasted reward devaluation, and then we found that such persistent capture did not change after an incentive-learning procedure with a devalued reward. In Experiment 2, we showed that the reward cue salience remained unaltered after reward devaluation for at least 1 week. In Experiment 3, we finally succeeded in modifying the cue attentional salience when a new contingency between the cue and the reward was learned, and the reward was not devalued, such that the organism was in a high motivational state. The pattern of results emerging from our study reveals a complex interaction between attention, learning, and motivation, and may help shedding light on the learning mechanisms underlying addiction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Abnormal orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity is one of the most common findings from neuroimaging studies of individuals with compulsive disorders such as substance use disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The nature of this abnormality is complex, however, with some studies reporting the OFC to be over-active in compulsive individuals relative to controls, whereas other studies report it being under-active, and a further set of studies reporting OFC abnormality in both directions within the same individuals. The OFC has been implicated in a broad range of cognitive processes such as decision-making and goal-directed action. OFC dysfunction could thus impair decision-making and goal-directed action, leading to the kinds of cognitive/behavioral deficits observed in individuals with compulsive disorders. One such deficit that could arise as a result of OFC dysfunction is an altered sensitivity to punishment, which is one of the core characteristics displayed by individuals across multiple types of compulsive disorders. It is, therefore, the aim of the current review to assess the evidence implicating the OFC in adaptation to punishment and to attempt to identify the critical factors that determine this relationship. We distill from this analysis some guidelines for future studies attempting to determine the precise role of the OFC in punishment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

One of the most important factors in decision-making is estimating the value of available options. Subregions of the prefrontal cortex, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), have been deemed essential for this process. Value computations require a complex integration across numerous dimensions, including, reward magnitude, effort, internal state, and time. The importance of the temporal dimension is well illustrated by temporal discounting tasks, in which subjects select between smaller-sooner versus larger-later rewards. The specific role of OFC in telling time and integrating temporal information into decision-making remains unclear. Based on the current literature, in this review we reevaluate current theories of OFC function, accounting for the influence of time. Incorporating temporal information into value estimation and decision-making requires distinct, yet interrelated, forms of temporal information including the ability to tell time, represent time, create temporal expectations, and the ability to use this information for optimal decision-making in a wide range of tasks, including temporal discounting and wagering. We use the term "temporal cognition" to refer to the integrated use of these different aspects of temporal information. We suggest that the OFC may be a critical site for the integration of reward magnitude and delay, and thus important for temporal cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Technological advances over the last decade are changing the face of behavioral neuroscience research. Here we review recent work on the use of one such transformative tool in behavioral neuroscience research, chemogenetics (or Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs, DREADDS). As transformative technologies such as DREADDs are introduced, applied, and refined, their utility in addressing complex questions about behavior and cognition becomes clear and exciting. In the behavioral neuroscience field, remarkable new findings now regularly appear as a result of the ability to monitor and intervene in neural processes with high anatomical precision as animals behave in complex task environments. As these new tools are applied to behavioral questions, individualized procedures for their use find their way into diverse labs. Thus, "tips of the trade" become important for wide dissemination not only for laboratories that are using the tools but also for those who are interested in incorporating them into their own work. Our aim is to provide an up-to-date perspective on how the DREADD technique is being used for research on learning and memory, decision making, and goal-directed behavior, as well as to provide suggestions and considerations for current and future users based on our collective experience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Many functions have been attributed to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-some classical roles, such as signaling the value of action outcomes, being challenged by more recent ones, such as signaling the position of a trial within a task space. In this paper, we propose a unifying neural network architecture, whose function is to generate a value from a set of attributes attached to a particular object. Our model reverses the logic of perceptual choice models, by considering values as outputs of (and not inputs to) the neural network. In doing so, the model explains why univariate value signals have been observed in both likeability rating and economic choice tasks, while the features associated with a particular task trial can be decoded using multivariate analysis. Moreover, simulations show that a globally positive correlation with subjective value at the population level can coexist with a variety of correlation coefficients at the single-unit level, bridging typical observations made in human neuroimaging and monkey electrophysiology studies of OFC activity. To better explain binary choice, we equipped the neural network with recurrent feedback connections that enable simultaneous coding of values associated with currently attended and previously considered objects. Simulations of this augmented model show that virtual lesions produce systematically intransitive preferences, as observed in patients with damage to the OFC. Thus, our neural network model is sufficiently general and flexible to account for a core set of observations and make specific predictions about both OFC activity during value judgment and behavioral consequence of OFC damage. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The prefrontal cortex is considered to be at the core of goal-directed behaviors. Notably, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is known to play an important role in learning action-outcome (A-O) associations, as well as in detecting changes in this contingency. Previous studies have also highlighted a specific engagement of the dopaminergic pathway innervating the mPFC in adapting to changes in action causality. While previous research on goal-directed actions has primarily focused on the mPFC region, recent findings have revealed a distinct and specific role of the ventral and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (vlOFC). Indeed, vlOFC is not necessary to learn about A-O associations but appears specifically involved when outcome identity is unexpectedly changed. Unlike the mPFC, the vlOFC does not receive a strong dopaminergic innervation. However, it receives a dense noradrenergic innervation which might indicate a crucial role for this neuromodulator. In addition, several lines of evidence highlight a role for noradrenaline in adapting to changes in the environment. We, therefore, propose that the vlOFC's function in action control might be under the strong influence of the noradrenergic system. In the present article, we review anatomical and functional evidence consistent with this proposal and suggest a direction for future studies that aim to shed light on the orbitofrontal mechanisms for flexible action control. Specifically, we suggest that dopaminergic modulation in the mPFC and noradrenergic modulation in the vlOFC may underlie distinct processes related to updating one's actions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

This study tests the predictions of a novel analysis of recognition memory based on a theory of associative learning, according to which recognition comprises two independent underlying processes, one relying on the to-be-recognized item having been experienced recently (self-generated priming), and the other on it being predicted by some other stimulus (retrieval-generated priming). A single experiment examined recognition performance in the amyloid precursor protein (APP)swe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) mouse, a double-transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and wild type (WT) littermates. Performance on two variants of the spontaneous object recognition (SOR) was compared in 5-month-old APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) mice, a double-transgenic model of AD, and their WT littermates, using junk objects. In the relative recency task animals were exposed to object A, and then object B, followed by a test with both A and B. In the object-in-place task the mice were exposed to both A and B, and then tested with two copies of A, occupying the same positions as the preeexposed objects. The WT mice showed a preference for exploring the first-presented object A in the relative recency task, and the copy of A in the "wrong" position (i.e., the one placed where B had been during the preexposure phase) in the object-in-place task. The APP/PS1 mice performed like the WT mice in the relative recency task, but showed a selective impairment in the object-in-place task. We interpret these findings in terms of-Wagner's (Information processing in animals: Memory Mechanisms, 1981, Erlbaum) theory of associative learning, sometimes opponent process (SOP), as a selective deficit in retrieval-generated priming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).