Neural substrates of olfactory discrimination learning with auditory secondary reinforcement. I. Contributions of the basolateral amygdaloid complex and orbitofrontal cortex

Abstract

The basolateral amygdaloid complex (BLA) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) share extensive reciprocal connections, and interactions between these regions likely contribute to both mnemonic and affective processes. The present study examined the potential differential contributions of the BLA and OFC to performance of an olfactory discrimination task that incorporates auditory conditioned reinforcement and to expression of immediate post-shock freezing behavior. Damage to the BLA had little effect on performance of the conditioned reinforcement task but abolished immediate post-shock freezing behavior. In contrast, damage to OFC resulted in both a mild but significant performance decrement in the conditioned reinforcement task and a significant attenuation of immediate post-shock freezing behavior. These findings suggest that immediate post-shock freezing behavior is likely critically dependent upon interactions between the BLA and OFC. However, although mnemonic processes underlying accurate performance of the conditioned reinforcement task might be supported by OFC in part, such processes are independent of either the BLA or interactions between these two regions.

The signal attenuation rat model of obsessive–compulsive disorder: a review

“…Electrophysiological (Rolls 1996;Schoenbaum et al 1998Schoenbaum et al , 1999Schoenbaum et al , 2000Schoenbaum et al , 2003bThorpe et al 1983) and recent lesion studies (Cousens and Otto 2003;Izquierdo et al 2004;Kim and Ragozzino 2005;Parkinson et al 2001;Pears et al 2003;Pickens et al 2003Pickens et al , 2005Setlow et al 2002;Winstanley et al 2004) have further suggested that the orbital cortex and BLA play distinct roles in mediating the effects of motivationally significant stimuli on behavior, with the BLA being primarily involved in the acquisition of the motivational significance of stimuli and the orbital cortex being particularly critical for flexible adjustment of responding when reinforcement contingencies change (Pickens et al 2003;Rolls 1996Rolls , 1999Rolls , 2000aSchoenbaum and Roesch 2005;Schoenbaum and Setlow 2001;Winstanley et al 2004).…”

“…On the basis of the effects of orbital and BLA lesions in different behavioral procedures, it has been suggested that these two regions form a functional system that is required for a CS to retrieve the current motivational (affective) value of the US with which it is associated (Baxter et al 2000;Cador et al 1989;Cardinal et al 2002;Cousens and Otto 2003;Everitt and Robbins 1992;Everitt et al 1989;Hatfield et al 1996;Holland and Gallagher 1999;Parkinson et al 2001;Pears et al 2003;Rolls 1996Rolls , 1999Rolls , 2000aSchoenbaum and Roesch 2005;Schoenbaum and Setlow 2001;Schoenbaum et al 2002Schoenbaum et al , 2003aSetlow et al 2002;Whitelaw et al 1996). Electrophysiological (Rolls 1996;Schoenbaum et al 1998Schoenbaum et al , 1999Schoenbaum et al , 2000Schoenbaum et al , 2003bThorpe et al 1983) and recent lesion studies (Cousens and Otto 2003;Izquierdo et al 2004;Kim and Ragozzino 2005;Parkinson et al 2001;Pears et al 2003;Pickens et al 2003Pickens et al , 2005Setlow et al 2002;Winstanley et al 2004) have further suggested that the orbital cortex and BLA play distinct roles in mediating the effects of motivationally significant stimuli on behavior, with the BLA being primarily involved in the acquisition of the motivational significance of stimuli and the orbital cortex being particularly critical for flexible adjustment of responding when reinforcement contingen...…”

Neurophysiology of Reward-Guided Behavior: Correlates Related to Predictions, Value, Motivation, Errors, Attention, and Action

“…Traditionally, ABL was thought to serve many of the same functions as OFC consistent with their reciprocal connections (Bechara et al 1999; Malkova et al 1997; Kesner and Williams 1995; Hatfield et al 1996; Cousens and Otto 2003; Parkinson et al 2001; Jones and Mishkin 1972; Winstanley et al 2004; Churchwell et al 2009; Ghods-Sharifi et al 2009; Cardinal 2006). Studies examining the encoding of both appetitive and aversive signals in OFC and ABL have shown that the two are dependent on each other for normal encoding when rats discriminate stimuli that predict appetitive (sucrose) and aversive (quinine) outcomes during reversal learning (Roesch et al 2007a, 2010a, b; Haney et al 2010; Saddoris et al 2005; Schoenbaum 2004; Schoenbaum et al 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003a, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011a; Schoenbaum and Esber 2010; Schoenbaum and Roesch 2005; Stalnaker et al 2007; Rudebeck and Murray 2008, 2011, 2014; Rudebeck et al 2013a, b).…”

From anxiety to autism: spectrum of abnormal social behaviors modeled by progressive disruption of inhibitory neuronal function in the basolateral amygdala in Wistar rats

“…The OFC is proposed to predict the appropriate social response of the organism to optimize the outcome of the interaction (Bachevalier and Malkova 2006;Cousens and Otto 2003;Pickens et al 2003;Schoenbaum and Roesch 2005;Schoenbaum et al 2003;Winstanley et al 2004) and coordinate the response with the mPFCv. The mPFCv, in turn, supplies functional inputs that help shape the BLA's response to incoming sensory cues Rosenkranz and Grace 1999.…”