title: Checking behavior in rhesus monkeys is related to anxiety and frontal activity.
abstract: When facing doubt, humans can go back over a performed action in order to optimize subsequent performance. The present study aimed to establish and characterize physiological doubt and checking behavior in non-human primates (NHP). We trained two rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in a newly designed "Check-or-Go" task that allows the animal to repeatedly check and change the availability of a reward before making the final decision towards obtaining that reward. By manipulating the ambiguity of a visual cue in which the reward status is embedded, we successfully modulated animal certainty and created doubt that led the animals to check. This voluntary checking behavior was further characterized by making EEG recordings and measuring correlated changes in salivary cortisol. Our data show that monkeys have the metacognitive ability to express voluntary checking behavior similar to that observed in humans, which depends on uncertainty monitoring, relates to anxiety and involves brain frontal areas.
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosc
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CHU de Bordeaux, Service d'explorations fonctionnelles du système nerveux, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bioulac
authors.affiliation: Centre Hospitalier Henri-Laborit, 370, avenue Jacques-Cœur, F-86021, Poitiers, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Langbour
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Tho Hai
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goillandeau
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dehay
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CHU de Bordeaux, Service d'explorations fonctionnelles du système nerveux, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burbaud
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.|CNRS, Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, UMR 5287, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Michelet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003657:Decision Making; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone