title: Altered risk-based decision making following adolescent alcohol use results from an imbalance in reinforcement learning in rats.
abstract: Alcohol use during adolescence has profound and enduring consequences on decision-making under risk. However, the fundamental psychological processes underlying these changes are unknown. Here, we show that alcohol use produces over-fast learning for better-than-expected, but not worse-than-expected, outcomes without altering subjective reward valuation. We constructed a simple reinforcement learning model to simulate altered decision making using behavioral parameters extracted from rats with a history of adolescent alcohol use. Remarkably, the learning imbalance alone was sufficient to simulate the divergence in choice behavior observed between these groups of animals. These findings identify a selective alteration in reinforcement learning following adolescent alcohol use that can account for a robust change in risk-based decision making persisting into later life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America. jjc1@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Jeremy J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Nasrallah
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Ilene L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Paul E M
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003657:Decision Making; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012306:Risk