Skip Navigation


Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on January 8, 2009
Cerebral Cortex 2009 19(10):2240-2247; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn241
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/10/2240    most recent
bhn241v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hauber, W.
Right arrow Articles by Sommer, S.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hauber, W.
Right arrow Articles by Sommer, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Prefrontostriatal Circuitry Regulates Effort-Related Decision Making

Wolfgang Hauber and Susanne Sommer

Abteilung Tierphysiologie, Biologisches Institute, Universität Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany

Address correspondence to email: hauber{at}bio.uni-stuttgart.de.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and the dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are part of a neural system that is critically involved in making decisions on how much effort to invest for rewards. In the present study, we sought to identify functional interactions between ACC and NAc regulating effort-based decision making. Rats were tested in a T-maze cost–benefit task in which they could either choose to climb a barrier to obtain a large reward (LR) in one arm or a small reward in the other arm without a barrier. Experiment 1 revealed that bilateral excitotoxic lesions of the core subregion of the NAc impaired effort-based decision making, that is, reduced the preference for the high effort–LR option when having the choice to obtain a low reward with little effort. Experiment 2 showed that disconnection of the ACC and NAc core using an asymmetrical excitotoxic lesion procedure impaired effort-based decision making. The present data provide evidence that effort-based decision making is governed by an interconnected neural system that requires serial information transfer between ACC and NAc core.

Key Words: anterior cingulate cortex • disconnection • nucleus accumbens • prefrontal cortex • rat


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
S. Ghods-Sharifi, J. R. St. Onge, and S. B. Floresco
Fundamental Contribution by the Basolateral Amygdala to Different Forms of Decision Making
J. Neurosci., April 22, 2009; 29(16): 5251 - 5259.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.