The Mouse Gambling Task: Assessing Individual Decision-making Strategies in Mice

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Decision-making involves selecting among alternatives, often under uncertainty.
• The Iowa gambling task (IGT) models human decision-making with probabilistic rewards and penalties.
• Previous adaptations of the IGT in rodents have varied in protocol design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel, comprehensive mouse model of the Iowa gambling task (IGT).
• To investigate complex decision-making strategies and inter-individual differences in mice.
• To provide a standardized protocol for studying decision-making under uncertainty in a rodent model.

Main Methods:

• Developed a mouse protocol mirroring key IGT features: 4 options, ambiguous outcomes, immediate/long-term rewards, and penalties.
• Included 100 trials with no prior contingency learning.
• Ensured the presence of both certain rewards and probable penalties.

Main Results:

• Mice exhibited varied decision-making strategies when choosing between advantageous and disadvantageous options.
• The protocol successfully replicated the complex, uncertain conditions of the human IGT.
• Significant inter-individual differences in strategic choices were observed among the mice.

Conclusions:

• This novel mouse IGT protocol is among the first to capture essential characteristics of the human task.
• It enables the study of complex decision-making processes and individual strategy variations in mice.
• The findings highlight the utility of this model for understanding the neurobiological basis of decision-making.