title: Role of the Perigenual Anterior Cingulate and Orbitofrontal Cortex in Contingency Learning in the Marmoset.
abstract: Two learning mechanisms contribute to decision-making: goal-directed actions and the "habit" system, by which action-outcome and stimulus-response associations are formed, respectively. Rodent lesion studies and human neuroimaging have implicated both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the neural basis of contingency learning, a critical component of goal-directed actions, though some published findings are conflicting. We sought to reconcile the existing literature by comparing the effects of excitotoxic lesions of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), a region of the mPFC, and OFC on contingency learning in the marmoset monkey using a touchscreen-based paradigm, in which the contingent relationship between one of a pair of actions and its outcome was degraded selectively. Both the pgACC and OFC lesion groups were insensitive to the contingency degradation, whereas the control group demonstrated selectively higher performance of the nondegraded action when compared with the degraded action. These findings suggest the pgACC and OFC are both necessary for normal contingency learning and therefore goal-directed behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
authors.forename: Stacey A W
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
authors.forename: Nicole K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Horst
authors.affiliation: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pears
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
authors.forename: Trevor W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Robbins
authors.affiliation: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.
authors.forename: Angela C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002144:Callithrix; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017378:Quinolinic Acid
chemical_list: D017378:Quinolinic Acid
keywords: goal-directed action; habit; obsessive-compulsive disorder; prefrontal; primate