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Strain commonalities and differences in response-outcome decision making in mice.
Kelsey S Zimmermann1, Chia-Chun Hsu2, Shannon L Gourley1
1Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, United States; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, United States; Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, United States.
Mice can adjust their behavior based on changing reward probabilities, demonstrating goal-directed strategies. However, strain differences emerge when rewards become unpredictable, with BALB/c mice showing habitual responses and C57BL/6 mice inhibiting them.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Goal-directed behavior is crucial for adapting to environmental changes.
- Response-outcome contingency degradation is a key task for assessing goal-directed strategies in rodents.
- This task has been primarily used in rats, with less data available for mice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if mice exhibit goal-directed behavior using the response-outcome contingency degradation task.
- To compare the response strategies of C57BL/6 and BALB/c mouse strains in this task.
- To identify strain-specific differences in behavioral adaptation to altered reinforcement contingencies.
Main Methods:
- Mice (C57BL/6 and BALB/c strains) were trained on two food-reinforced behaviors.
- Instrumental contingency degradation was applied to one response, providing the outcome non-contingently.
- A probe test assessed the selection between responses based on updated contingency information.
Main Results:
- Both C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice demonstrated the ability to select the more likely reinforced response after contingency degradation.
- Significant strain differences were observed during the contingency degradation training phase.
- BALB/c mice showed perseverative, habit-like responding when reinforcement was degraded, while C57BL/6 mice more readily inhibited responding.
Conclusions:
- Mice are capable of utilizing learned information to guide behavior in response to changing reinforcement schedules.
- Strain-specific differences exist in mice's ability to adapt behavior when expected rewards are withheld.
- These findings highlight the utility of the contingency degradation task for studying behavioral flexibility and habit formation in different mouse strains.
