Inhibitory control in BALB/c mice sub-strains during extinction learning.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Genetics
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Executive function (EF) dysregulation impacts cognitive flexibility and is linked to learning impairments in neurodevelopmental disorders.
• BALB/cJ mice exhibit behavioral traits such as diminished sociability, increased anxiety, and inattentive behavior, making them a relevant model for studying cognitive inflexibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cognitive inflexibility by comparing learning acquisition and extinction phases in BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ mice.
• To determine if different learning strategies are employed by BALB/c mouse sub-strains during appetitive extinction.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an appetitive extinction paradigm in a touchscreen operant chamber.
• Assessed learning acquisition and response inhibition during extinction phases in two BALB/c mouse sub-strains.
• Analyzed differences in learning rates and criterion attainment during acquisition and extinction.

Main Results:

• BALB/cJ mice demonstrated faster learning acquisition compared to BALB/cByJ mice.
• Both sub-strains showed comparable performance during the extinction phase, extinguishing responses to unrewarded stimuli equally.
• Within BALB/cJ mice, those reaching extinction criteria were more reward-driven, while those failing made more errors, indicating variability in response inhibition.

Conclusions:

• BALB/c sub-strains may employ distinct learning strategies during appetitive extinction, impacting cognitive flexibility.
• Findings contribute to the phenotypic dissection of cognitive flexibility in BALB/c mice and future genetic mapping studies.