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Sex differences in discrimination behavior and orbitofrontal engagement during context-gated reward prediction
Sophie Peterson1, Amanda Maheras2, Brenda Wu1
1Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.
Elife
|July 24, 2024
Summary
Female rats exhibit slower but more robust contextual control over reward seeking, linked to increased orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activation, unlike males. This highlights sex differences in learning speed versus performance stability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Contextual information is crucial for interpreting ambiguous stimuli in humans and animals.
- Impaired context processing is linked to neuropsychiatric disorders, but sex differences are unclear.
- Understanding sex differences in context processing is vital for psychiatric disorder research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sex differences in contextual control over cue-evoked reward seeking.
- To explore the neural correlates of these sex differences in rats.
- To determine if observed differences are specific to contextual modulation.
Main Methods:
- Rats (male and female) were trained in a bidirectional occasion-setting task.
- Behavioral acquisition of contextual control was assessed.
- Neural activation, specifically in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), was measured.
- Performance was evaluated under normal conditions and acute stress.
Main Results:
- Females were slower to acquire contextual control but demonstrated more robust performance.
- Female rats showed less within-session variability and greater stress resistance.
- Enhanced OFC activation was observed in females compared to males.
- Sex differences were specific to contextual modulation, not simple cue-reward tasks.
Conclusions:
- A sex-biased trade-off exists between learning speed and performance robustness in contextual reward seeking.
- Differences in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) engagement may underlie these sex-specific behavioral patterns.
- Findings have implications for understanding sex differences in neuropsychiatric disorders.
