Reward/Punishment‐Based Decision Making in Rodents

Abstract

Deficits in decision making are at the heart of many psychiatric diseases, such as substance abuse disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Consequently, rodent models of decision making are germane to understanding the neural mechanisms underlying adaptive choice behavior and how such mechanisms can become compromised in pathological conditions. A critical factor that must be integrated with reward value to ensure optimal decision making is the occurrence of consequences, which can differ based on probability (risk of punishment) and temporal contiguity (delayed punishment). This article will focus on two models of decision making that involve explicit punishment, both of which recapitulate different aspects of consequences during human decision making. We will discuss each behavioral protocol, the parameters to consider when designing an experiment, and finally how such animal models can be utilized in studies of psychiatric disease. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Behavioral training Support Protocol: Equipment testing Alternate Protocol: Reward discrimination Basic Protocol 2: Risky decision‐making task (RDT) Basic Protocol 3: Delayed punishment decision‐making task (DPDT)

Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex and Basolateral Amygdala Regulate Sensitivity to Delayed Punishment during Decision-making

“…A previous study determined that males discount delayed punishment more than females when shock intensity was comparable for all subjects (Liley et al, 2019). Sex differences in decision-making were not observed here, as shock levels were titrated to avoid ceiling or floor effects for each subject (Orsini and Simon, 2020). Therefore, the lack of sex differences here is a function of task design and does not contradict previous data.…”

“…Many psychiatric diseases are characterized by insensitivity to detrimental outcomes (Bechara, 2005; Hartley and Phelps, 2012; Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel et al, 2019; Orsini and Simon, 2020). One factor that drives this insensitivity is the presence of a delay that often precedes occurrence of these outcomes (Murphy et al, 2001; Bechara and Dolan, 2002; Field et al, 2019).…”

The effects of epigallocatechin gallate and caffeine on risky decision-making

“…Shaping procedures to enable acquisition of RDT were similar to previous reports (Gabriel et al, 2018;Orsini and Simon, 2020). The day before training began, rats were given a handful of sucrose pellets (Bioserv, NJ) in their home cage to reduce neophobia.…”

“…All parameters were equal across all blocks, except the risk of shock associated with the "risky" lever increased with each block. Shock intensity was titrated for each individual subject to prevent floor or ceiling effects (Orsini and Simon, 2020). On the first session of RDT, shock amplitude was 0 mA (no shock), then was gradually increased on subsequent sessions by .02, .03, or .05 mA.…”

“…The copyright holder for this preprint (which this version posted April 27, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.26.441489 doi: bioRxiv preprint 5 Despite the established health benefits of green tea, little is known about the effects of EGCG independently or with caffeine on decision-making. Risk-taking in the face of negative consequences is elevated in several psychiatric disorders (Orsini and Simon, 2020); therefore, it is critical to identify compounds that alleviate excessive risk-taking with low abuse potential that do not gross cognitive or motivational impairment. Risk-taking can be assessed in a rat model using the Risky Decision-making Task (RDT), which measures preference between a small, safe reward and a larger, risky reward accompanied by a chance of punishment (mild foot shock) which escalates throughout the session (Simon et al, 2009).…”