Rigid patterns of effortful choice behavior after acute stress in rats.
Physical effort is a common cost of acquiring rewards, and decreased effort is a feature of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Stress affects performance on several tests of cognition and decision making in both humans and nonhumans. Only a few recent reports show impairing effects of stress in operant tasks involving effort and cognitive flexibility. Brain regions affected by stress, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala, are also implicated in mediating effortful choices. Here, we assessed effort-based decision making after an acute stress procedure known to induce persistent impairment in shuttle escape and elevated plasma corticosterone. In these animals, we also probed levels of polysialyted neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM), a marker of structural plasticity, in medial frontal cortex and amygdala. We found that animals that consistently worked for high magnitude rewards continued to do so, even after acute shock stress. We also found that PSA-NCAM was increased in both regions after effortful choice experience but not after shock stress alone. These findings are discussed with reference to the existing broad literature on cognitive effects of stress and in the context of how acute stress may bias effortful decisions to a rigid pattern of responding.
a Department of Psychology , University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.
Evan E
EE
Hart
a Department of Psychology , University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.
Alexandra
A
Stolyarova
a Department of Psychology , University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.
Michael A
MA
Conoscenti
a Department of Psychology , University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.|b Brain Research Institute, University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.|c Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, University of California at Los Angeles , CA , USA.
Thomas R
TR
Minor
a Department of Psychology , University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.|b Brain Research Institute, University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA.|c Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, University of California at Los Angeles , CA , USA.|d Integrative Center for Addictions, University of California at Los Angeles , CA , USA.
Alicia
A
Izquierdo
D000679:Amygdala / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism*
D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D003345:Corticosterone
Cognitive flexibility; amygdala; medial prefrontal cortex; PSA-NCAM; acute stress; perseveration