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Updated: Jun 30, 2025

An Automated T-maze Based Apparatus and Protocol for Analyzing Delay- and Effort-based Decision Making in Free Moving Rodents
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The lateral habenula: A hub for value-guided behavior

Dominik Groos1, Fritjof Helmchen2

  • 1Laboratory of Neural Circuit Dynamics, Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Cell Reports
|March 24, 2024
PubMed

The habenula is an evolutionarily highly conserved diencephalic brain region divided into two major parts, medial and lateral. Over the past two decades, studies of the lateral habenula (LHb), in particular, have identified key functions in value-guided behavior in health and disease. In this review, we focus on recent insights into LHb connectivity and its functional relevance for different types of aversive and appetitive value-guided behavior. First, we give an overview of the anatomical organization of the LHb and its main cellular composition. Next, we elaborate on how distinct LHb neuronal subpopulations encode aversive and appetitive stimuli and on their involvement in more complex decision-making processes. Finally, we scrutinize the afferent and efferent connections of the LHb and discuss their functional implications for LHb-dependent behavior. A deepened understanding of distinct LHb circuit components will substantially contribute to our knowledge of value-guided behavior.

Keywords:
CP: Neuroscience

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