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Contribution of Rat Insular Cortex to Stimulus-Guided Action.
Yacine Tensaouti1, Louis Morel1, Shauna L Parkes2
1Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux F-33000, Gironde, France.
Summary
The insular cortex (IC) is crucial for how reward cues influence actions. Inhibiting the IC disrupts both general motivation and specific choices guided by reward predictions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Decision-Making
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Anticipating rewards is key for decision-making.
- The gustatory cortex (IC) represents predictive cues and outcome expectations.
- Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) assesses cue influence on actions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the insular cortex (IC) role in cue-driven general and specific reward anticipation.
- To determine if IC is necessary for predictive cues to energize and guide instrumental actions.
Main Methods:
- Used chemogenetics to inhibit the IC in male rats.
- Employed Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigms.
- Assessed general and specific PIT, and outcome-selective reinstatement.
Main Results:
- IC inhibition impaired general PIT, reducing cue-energized responding.
- Specific PIT deficits showed IC is needed for cues to guide action choice.
- IC inhibition also abolished outcome-selective reinstatement.
Conclusions:
- The insular cortex (IC) is vital for representing appetitive outcomes.
- IC plays a critical role in using outcome representations to guide instrumental actions.
- These findings highlight IC's importance in motivated behavior and decision-making.
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