title: Beta-adrenergic antagonist effects on a novel cognitive flexibility task in rodents.
abstract: Previous work examining animal models of cognitive flexibility have focused on tasks where animals are required to shift between cues in order to reach a food reward from among a limited set of choices. Performance by nonhuman animals on these tasks, including reversal learning, intradimensional set-shifting, and extradimensional set-shifting, are affected by pharmacological action on serotonergic, dopaminergic, and alpha-adrenergic, but not beta-adrenergic receptors. However, beta-adrenergic antagonists, such as propranolol, are widely utilized for conditions such as test anxiety. Propranolol improves performance in humans during cognitive flexibility tasks where there is a broad set of potential solutions. The current investigation utilized a digging task where the rodent must develop a novel solution in order to obtain a reward. Similar to the effects observed in humans, propranolol improved performance on this task, while not affecting performance on set-shifting tasks, as with previous animal studies. This may allow future investigation of the neurobiological mechanism by which propranolol affects context-specific anxiety, and could provide insight into the neurobiology of creativity.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: pmhp6d@mail.missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Hecht
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Christopher Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: willm@missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Will
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: schachtmant@missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Todd R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Schachtman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: lmwy9b@mail.missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Lauren M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Welby
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: beversdorfd@health.missouri.edu.
authors.forename: David Q
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Beversdorf
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000187:drug effects*; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D011433:Propranolol
keywords: ASST; Attentional set-shifting; CD; Cognitive flexibility; Creativity; EDS; IDS; Noradrenergic; Problem solving; Propranolol; SD; attentional set-shifting task; compound discrimination; extradimensional set shift; intradimensional set shift; simple discrimination