Chronic unpredictable stress shifts rat behavior from exploration to exploitation

Chronic stress evokes wide-ranging behavioral alterations, including risk avoidance, increased motoric output, and reduced consummatory behaviors. These are often interpreted as dysfunctions, but they may subserve adaptations for coping with existential threats. We tested this in a cohort of rats previously exposed to mild unpredictable stress for 5 weeks. Previously stressed rats exhibited the typically increased avoidance of open field and altered responses to predator odor, suggesting enhanced sensitivity to threatening contexts and cues. Interestingly, these animals collected rewards at a higher rate than controls, because they locomoted faster, spent less time in off-task (exploratory) behavior, and committed fewer licks at feeders. Further, they were not impaired in flexibly shifting choice as reward probabilities changed among feeders, suggesting that behavioral adaptations are not simply of transference to behavioral control to neural systems insensitive to reward (e.g. habits). These data add to a small but growing body of evidence indicating that stress shifts responses away from exploration and toward exploitation of resources, possibly to reduce threat exposure.HighlightsRats with a history of stress collected reward at a higher rate than controls on an operant task, owing to increase locomotion speed, reduced off-task behavior, and reduced time licking at feeders.Previously stressed rats exhibited increased win-stay responses than controls, suggesting the involvement of neural circuits related to goal-directed responding.Previously stressed rats performed equally to controls on a task requiring a shift of preferences based on reward probability, suggesting that they are not simply relying more on habit-based neural systems.