This study examined the effects of a dopamine D 1 antagonist, SCH23390, infused into the prelimbicinfralimbic areas on the acquisition of a response and visual-cue discrimination task, as well as a shift from a response to a visual-cue discrimination and vice versa. Each test was carried out in a cross-maze. The response discrimination required learning to always turn in the same direction (right or left) for a cereal reinforcement. The visual-cue discrimination required learning to always enter the arm with the visual cue. In experiment 1, rats were tested on the response discrimination task, followed by the visual-cue discrimination task. In experiment 2, the testing order was reversed. Bilateral infusions of SCH23390 (0.1 or 1 µg/0.5 µL) into the prelimbic-infralimbic areas did not impair acquisition of the response or visual-cue discrimination tasks. SCH23390 injections at 1 µg, but not 0.1 µg impaired performance when shifting from a response to a visual-cue discrimination, and vice versa. Analysis of the errors revealed that the deficit was due to perseveration of the previously learned strategy. These results suggest that activation of dopamine D 1 receptors in the prelimbic-infralimbic areas may be critical for the suppression of a previously relevant strategy and/or generating new strategies.There is accumulating evidence that separate prefrontal cortex regions influence distinct cognitive functions (Kolb et al. 1974;Eichenbaum et al. 1983;Seamans et al. 1995;Delatour and Gisquet-Verrier 1996Goldman-Rakic 1996;Kesner et al. 1996;Petrides 1996;Bussey et al. 1997;DeCoteau et al. 1997;Ragozzino et al. 1998Ragozzino et al. , 1999b GisquetVerrier et al. 2000;Kesner 2000;Ragozzino and Kesner 2001). Experiments in nonhuman primates have shown that different prefrontal cortex areas contribute to separate forms of cognitive flexibility (Dias et al. 1996(Dias et al. , 1997. Lesions of the lateral prefrontal cortex produce a selective impairment in extra-dimensional shifts for a visual-cue discrimination task (e.g., learning to make a choice based on shape, then learning to make a choice based on lines). However, lateral prefrontal cortex lesions do not impair reversal learning (e.g., learning to always choose a red object but not a blue object, then learning to choose the opposite colored object). Conversely, lesions of the orbital prefrontal cortex impair reversal learning but not extra-dimensional shifts (Dias et al. 1996(Dias et al. , 1997. Taken together, the evidence suggests that the lateral prefrontal cortex and orbital prefrontal cortex regions differentially contribute to cognitive flexibility based on the type of task demands.The findings from several studies in rodents suggest that the medial prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in behavioral flexibility (deBruin et al. 1994; Aggleton et al. 1995;Granon and Poucet 1995;Bussey et al. 1997;Joel et al. 1997; Ragozzino et al. 1999a,b;Birrell and Brown 2000;Delatour and Gisquet-Verrier 2000;Dias and Aggleton 2000). Recently, a series of experiments foun...