Liley Anna E, Gabriel Daniel B K, Simon Nicholas W
Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152.
Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152
eNeuro. 2022 Aug 29;9(5). doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0170-22.2022.
In real-world decision-making scenarios, negative consequences do not always occur immediately after a choice. This delay between action and outcome drives the underestimation, or "delay discounting", of punishment. While the neural substrates underlying sensitivity to immediate punishment have been well-studied, there has been minimal investigation of delayed consequences. Here, we assessed the role of lateral orbitofrontal cortex (LOFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA), two regions implicated in cost/benefit decision-making, in sensitivity to delayed vs immediate punishment. The delayed punishment decision-making task (DPDT) was used to measure delay discounting of punishment in rodents. During DPDT, rats choose between a small, single pellet reward and a large, three pellet reward accompanied by a mild foot shock. As the task progresses, the shock is preceded by a delay that systematically increases or decreases throughout the session. We observed that rats avoid choices associated with immediate punishment, then shift preference toward these options when punishment is delayed. LOFC inactivation did not influence choice of rewards with immediate punishment, but decreased choice of delayed punishment. We also observed that BLA inactivation reduced choice of delayed punishment for ascending but not descending delays. Inactivation of either brain region produced comparable effects on decision-making in males and females, but there were sex differences observed in omissions and latency to make a choice. In summary, both LOFC and BLA contribute to the delay discounting of punishment and may serve as promising therapeutic targets to improve sensitivity to delayed punishment during decision-making.Negative consequences occurring after a delay are often underestimated, which can lead to maladaptive decision-making. While sensitivity to immediate punishment during reward-seeking has been well-studied, the neural substrates underlying sensitivity to delayed punishment remain unclear. Here, we used the Delayed Punishment Decision-making Task to determine that lateral orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala both regulate the discounting of delayed punishment, suggesting that these regions may be potential targets to improve decision-making in psychopathology.
在现实世界的决策场景中，负面后果并不总是在做出选择后立即出现。这种行动与结果之间的延迟导致了对惩罚的低估，即“延迟折扣”。虽然对即时惩罚敏感性的神经基础已经得到了充分研究，但对延迟后果的研究却很少。在这里，我们评估了外侧眶额皮质（LOFC）和基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）这两个与成本/收益决策有关的区域在对延迟与即时惩罚的敏感性中的作用。延迟惩罚决策任务（DPDT）被用于测量啮齿动物对惩罚的延迟折扣。在DPDT过程中，大鼠在一个小的、单个食丸奖励和一个大的、三个食丸奖励之间进行选择，同时伴有轻微的足部电击。随着任务的进行，电击之前会有一个延迟，这个延迟在整个实验过程中会系统地增加或减少。我们观察到，大鼠会避免与即时惩罚相关的选择，然后当惩罚延迟时，它们会将偏好转向这些选项。LOFC失活并不影响对即时惩罚奖励的选择，但会减少对延迟惩罚的选择。我们还观察到，BLA失活减少了对上升延迟而非下降延迟的延迟惩罚的选择。任一脑区的失活对雄性和雌性的决策产生了类似的影响，但在遗漏和做出选择的潜伏期方面观察到了性别差异。总之，LOFC和BLA都对惩罚的延迟折扣有贡献，并且可能作为有前景的治疗靶点，以提高决策过程中对延迟惩罚的敏感性。延迟出现的负面后果往往被低估，这可能导致适应不良的决策。虽然在寻求奖励过程中对即时惩罚的敏感性已经得到了充分研究，但对延迟惩罚敏感性的神经基础仍不清楚。在这里，我们使用延迟惩罚决策任务来确定外侧眶额皮质和基底外侧杏仁核都调节延迟惩罚的折扣，这表明这些区域可能是改善精神病理学中决策的潜在靶点。
