scholarly journals Complementary contributions of basolateral amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex to value learning under uncertainty

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Stolyarova ◽  
Alicia Izquierdo
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Previous Experience ◽  
Wait Times ◽  
Meaningful Change ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Expected Outcome ◽  
Value Learning ◽  
Expected Outcomes

We make choices based on the values of expected outcomes, informed by previous experience in similar settings. When the outcomes of our decisions consistently violate expectations, new learning is needed to maximize rewards. Yet not every surprising event indicates a meaningful change in the environment. Even when conditions are stable overall, outcomes of a single experience can still be unpredictable due to small fluctuations (i.e., expected uncertainty) in reward or costs. In the present work, we investigate causal contributions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in rats to learning under expected outcome uncertainty in a novel delay-based task that incorporates both predictable fluctuations and directional shifts in outcome values. We demonstrate that OFC is required to accurately represent the distribution of wait times to stabilize choice preferences despite trial-by-trial fluctuations in outcomes, whereas BLA is necessary for the facilitation of learning in response to surprising events.

Orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala encode expected outcomes during learning

10.1038/407 ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Schoenbaum ◽  
Andrea A. Chiba ◽  
Michela Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Expected Outcomes

scholarly journals The transition from memory retrieval to extinction

2004 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín Cammarota ◽  
Daniela M. Barros ◽  
Mónica R.M. Vianna ◽  
Lia R.M. Bevilaqua ◽  
Adriana Coitinho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Conditioned Fear ◽  
Test Session ◽  
Protein Synthesis Inhibitors ◽  
Molecular Systems ◽  
Safe Area ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Learning ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Training Apparatus

Memory is measured by measuring retrieval. Retrieval is often triggered by the conditioned stimulus (CS); however, as known since Pavlov, presentation of the CS alone generates extinction. One-trial avoidance (IA) is a much used conditioned fear paradigm in which the CS is the safe part of a training apparatus, the unconditioned stimulus (US) is a footshock and the conditioned response is to stay in the safe area. In IA, retrieval is measured without the US, as latency to step-down from the safe area (i.e., a platform). Extinction is installed at the moment of the first unreinforced test session, as clearly shown by the fact that many drugs, including PKA, ERK and protein synthesis inhibitors as well as NMDA receptor antagonists, hinder extinction when infused into the hippocampus or the basolateral amygdala at the moment of the first test session but not later. Some, but not all the molecular systems required for extinction are also activated by retrieval, further endorsing the hypothesis that although retrieval is behaviorally and biochemically necessary for the generation of extinction, this last process constitutes a new learning secondary to the unreinforced expression of the original trace.

B.7 - 5-HT2A RECEPTORS IN THE ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX AND THE BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA MODULATE IMPULSIVE DECISION-MAKING IN RATS

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. e28
Author(s):  
Lena Wischhof ◽  
Kerstin Wernecke ◽  
Ellen Irrsack ◽  
Malte Feja ◽  
Michael Koch
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala

scholarly journals A bidirectional corticoamygdala circuit for the encoding and retrieval of detailed reward memories

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana C Sias ◽  
Ashleigh K Morse ◽  
Sherry Wang ◽  
Venuz Y Greenfield ◽  
Caitlin M Goodpaster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Optical Recording ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Work Activity ◽  
Specific Stimulus ◽  
Reward Conditioning ◽  
Environmental Reward ◽  
Direct Input

Adaptive reward-related decision making often requires accurate and detailed representation of potential available rewards. Environmental reward-predictive stimuli can facilitate these representations, allowing one to infer which specific rewards might be available and choose accordingly. This process relies on encoded relationships between the cues and the sensory-specific details of the reward they predict. Here we interrogated the function of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and its interaction with the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) in the ability to learn such stimulus-outcome associations and use these memories to guide decision making. Using optical recording and inhibition approaches, Pavlovian cue-reward conditioning, and the outcome-selective Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) test in male rats, we found that the BLA is robustly activated at the time of stimulus-outcome learning and that this activity is necessary for sensory-specific stimulus-outcome memories to be encoded, so they can subsequently influence reward choices. Direct input from the lOFC was found to support the BLA in this function. Based on prior work, activity in BLA projections back to the lOFC was known to support the use of stimulus-outcome memories to influence decision making. By multiplexing optogenetic and chemogenetic inhibition we performed a serial circuit disconnection and found that the lOFCàBLA and BLAàlOFC pathways form a functional circuit regulating the encoding (lOFCàBLA) and subsequent use (BLAàlOFC) of the stimulus-dependent, sensory-specific reward memories that are critical for adaptive, appetitive decision making.

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