ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6695-020X
Current Organisation
CNRS
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.APPET.2016.10.001
Abstract: Evidence now indicates that the chronic consumption of high-calorie foods, such as a high-fat diet (HFD), is associated with impaired control over food-seeking, yet the extent of this alteration is not fully understood. Using different reinforcement schedules, we evaluated whether HFD intake from weaning to adulthood modifies instrumental responding and induces a shift from goal-directed actions to habitual responding. We first observed reduced instrumental performance and motivation for a food reward in HFD-fed rats trained under schedules of reinforcement that facilitate habitual responding [Random Interval (RI)]. However, this deficit was alleviated if rats trained under RI were subsequently trained with reinforcement schedules that promote goal-directed strategies [Random Ratio (RR)]. Using an outcome devaluation procedure, we then demonstrated that consumption of a HFD promoted habitual behavior in rats trained under RI but not RR schedules. Finally, extended HFD exposure did not interfere with the ability of RR training to overcome impaired RI instrumental performance and to favor goal-directed behavior. These results indicate that chronic consumption of a HFD changes the co-ordination of goal-directed actions and habits and that alteration of food-seeking may be reversed under particular behavioral conditions.
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 13-10-2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 25-05-2017
Abstract: The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has long been considered a critical site in action control. However, recent evidence indicates that the contribution of cortical areas to goal-directed behavior likely extends beyond mPFC. Here, we examine the function of both insular (IC) and ventrolateral orbitofrontal (vlOFC) cortices in action-dependent learning. We used chemogenetics to study the consequences of IC or vlOFC inhibition on acquisition and performance of instrumental actions using the outcome devaluation task. Rats first learned to associate actions with desirable outcomes. Then, one of these outcomes was devalued and we assessed the rats' choice between the 2 actions. Typically, rats will bias their selection towards the action that delivers the still valued outcome. We show that chemogenetic-induced inhibition of IC during choice abolishes goal-directed control whereas inhibition during instrumental acquisition is without effect. IC is therefore necessary for action selection based on current outcome value. By contrast, vlOFC inhibition during acquisition or the choice test impaired goal-directed behavior but only following a shift in the instrumental contingencies. Our results provide clear evidence that vlOFC plays a critical role in action-dependent learning, which challenges the popular idea that this region of OFC is exclusively involved in stimulus-dependent behaviors.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 04-2021
DOI: 10.1037/BNE0000426
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 20-02-2023
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.81623
Abstract: In a constantly changing environment, organisms must track the current relationship between actions and their specific consequences and use this information to guide decision-making. Such goal-directed behaviour relies on circuits involving cortical and subcortical structures. Notably, a functional heterogeneity exists within the medial prefrontal, insular, and orbitofrontal cortices (OFC) in rodents. The role of the latter in goal-directed behaviour has been debated, but recent data indicate that the ventral and lateral subregions of the OFC are needed to integrate changes in the relationships between actions and their outcomes. Neuromodulatory agents are also crucial components of prefrontal functions and behavioural flexibility might depend upon the noradrenergic modulation of the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, we assessed whether noradrenergic innervation of the OFC plays a role in updating action-outcome relationships in male rats. We used an identity-based reversal task and found that depletion or chemogenetic silencing of noradrenergic inputs within the OFC rendered rats unable to associate new outcomes with previously acquired actions. Silencing of noradrenergic inputs in the prelimbic cortex or depletion of dopaminergic inputs in the OFC did not reproduce this deficit. Together, our results suggest that noradrenergic projections to the OFC are required to update goal-directed actions.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.NLM.2015.12.005
Abstract: The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the gustatory region of the insular cortex (IC) are required for the encoding and retrieval of outcome value. Here, we examined if these regions are also necessary to learn associations between actions and their outcomes. Hungry rats were first trained to press two levers for a common outcome. Next, specific response-outcome (R-O) associations were introduced such that each response now earned a distinct food outcome. Prior to each specific R-O training session, rats received a bilateral infusion of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, DL-APV, into either the BLA or the IC. One of the two outcomes was then devalued immediately prior to a choice test. Inhibition of NMDA receptor activity in the BLA, but not the IC, during the acquisition of specific R-O associations abolished selective devaluation. These results indicate that the BLA is critical for learning the association between actions and their specific consequences.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.NLM.2014.09.008
Abstract: Our current understanding of the neurobiology of taste learning and memory has been greatly facilitated by the use of a reliable behavioural model, conditioned taste aversion (CTA). This model has revealed that the insular cortex (IC), specifically muscarinic and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation in the IC, is critical for the formation of aversive taste memories. In contrast, current models of appetitive taste learning are less adequate, relying on the use of neophobic tastes (attenuation of neophobia) or on the integration of appetitive and aversive taste memories (latent inhibition of CTA). While these models have implicated IC muscarinic receptors, the involvement of NMDA receptors in the IC remains unclear. Here, we examined the role of both muscarinic and NMDA receptors in appetitive taste learning using a simple paradigm that is independent of neophobic and aversive components. First, we demonstrated that a single exposure to a novel taste, saccharin 0.1%, is sufficient to promote an appetitive taste memory as revealed by an increase in saccharin consumption during the second presentation. This increase was blocked by bilateral infusion in the IC of the muscarinic receptor antagonist, scopolamine. In contrast, infusion of the NMDA receptor antagonist, AP5, did not block appetitive taste learning but did abolish CTA. Therefore, common and distinct molecular substrates within the IC mediate appetitive versus aversive learning about the same taste.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-04-2016
DOI: 10.3758/S13420-016-0226-1
Abstract: Sensory-specific satiety is commonly used in studies of decision making to selectively devalue a food reward. Devaluation is reflected in an immediate reduction in the subsequent intake of the food and in the performance of actions that gain access to that food. Despite its frequent use, the lasting effects of satiety-induced devaluation on instrumental actions are unknown. Here, we examined the time course and contextual dependency of sensory-specific satiety-induced devaluation on instrumental responding and consumption. Rats were trained to perform two instrumental actions for two distinct food rewards. Then, one of the instrumental outcomes was provided ad libitum for 1 hour in separate feeding cages and the effect of this devaluation was assessed 0, 2, or 5 hours after satiation. At a delay of 0 or 2 hours, both intake and instrumental responding were sensitive to the satiety treatment. That is, rats consumed less of the devalued outcome and responded less for the devalued outcome than for the valued outcome. By contrast, after 5 hours, rats showed sensitivity to devaluation in consumption but not in instrumental responding. Strikingly, sensitivity to devaluation was restored for the instrumental response after a 5 hour delay when devaluation was performed in the instrumental context. These results indicate that, in rats, specific satiety-induced devaluation endures and is context-independent for up to 2 hours post-satiation. At longer delays, the impact of sensory-specific satiety on instrumental responding is context-dependent, suggesting that contextual cues may be required for the value of specific outcomes to control instrumental responding.
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 23-04-2019
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.46187
Abstract: The ability to flexibly use knowledge is one cardinal feature of goal-directed behaviors. We recently showed that thalamocortical and corticothalamic pathways connecting the medial prefrontal cortex and the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) contribute to adaptive decision-making (Alcaraz et al., 2018). In this study, we examined the impact of disconnecting the MD from its other main cortical target, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in a task assessing outcome devaluation after initial instrumental training and after reversal of action-outcome contingencies. Crossed MD and OFC lesions did not impair instrumental performance. Using the same approach, we found however that disconnecting the OFC from its other main thalamic afferent, the submedius nucleus, produced a specific impairment in adaptive responding following action-outcome reversal. Altogether, this suggests that multiple thalamocortical circuits may act synergistically to achieve behaviorally relevant functions.
No related grants have been discovered for Etienne Coutureau.