TY - JOUR
T1 - Dorsolateral striatum implicated in the acquisition, but not expression, of immediate response learning in rodent submerged T-maze
AU - Asem, Judith S.A.
AU - Holland, Peter C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was primarily designed, collected, analyzed, and written by J.S.A. Asem with edits provided by P.C. Holland. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) to J.S.A. Asem, and a grant from the National Institutes of Health (MH53667) to P.C. Holland. The authors would like to extend sincerest thanks to Kwasi Bowman, Caitlin Hepps Keeney, Denee McCoy, and Lance Shen-Kinny for aiding in data collection and histology as well as special recognition to Felipe Schiffino for assistance with surgery and infusions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - Animals can use multiple strategies when learning about, and navigating within, their environment. Typically, in the frequently-studied food-rewarded T-maze, rats initially adopt a flexible, hippocampal-dependent place strategy. However, as learning progresses, rats switch to an automatic, striatal-dependent response strategy (Packard & McGaugh, 1996). Interestingly, in a similar but aversively motivating water-submerged T-maze, rats exhibit the opposite behavioral pattern, initially adopting a response strategy but switching to a place strategy with extended training (Asem & Holland, 2013). Here, we examined the effects of transient lidocaine inactivation of the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) on rats' acquisition and expression of place and response strategies in the submerged T-maze. DLS inactivation prior to probe tests had no effect on rats' initial expression of a response strategy nor on their transition to the use of a place strategy with further training. Nevertheless, in a second experiment using the same rats, identical inactivation parameters significantly affected performance in an appetitively motivating positive control task, which required a response strategy. Furthermore, in a third experiment, DLS inactivation prior to early learning trials interfered with the acquisition of the response strategy in the submerged T-maze. These differences in DLS inactivation effects across appetitive and aversive tasks support the view that task motivation plays crucial roles in guiding learning, memory, and behavior. Additionally, differences in DLS inactivation effects between tests of acquisition and expression suggest that the DLS is required during early acquisition but not expression of the response learning strategy.
AB - Animals can use multiple strategies when learning about, and navigating within, their environment. Typically, in the frequently-studied food-rewarded T-maze, rats initially adopt a flexible, hippocampal-dependent place strategy. However, as learning progresses, rats switch to an automatic, striatal-dependent response strategy (Packard & McGaugh, 1996). Interestingly, in a similar but aversively motivating water-submerged T-maze, rats exhibit the opposite behavioral pattern, initially adopting a response strategy but switching to a place strategy with extended training (Asem & Holland, 2013). Here, we examined the effects of transient lidocaine inactivation of the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) on rats' acquisition and expression of place and response strategies in the submerged T-maze. DLS inactivation prior to probe tests had no effect on rats' initial expression of a response strategy nor on their transition to the use of a place strategy with further training. Nevertheless, in a second experiment using the same rats, identical inactivation parameters significantly affected performance in an appetitively motivating positive control task, which required a response strategy. Furthermore, in a third experiment, DLS inactivation prior to early learning trials interfered with the acquisition of the response strategy in the submerged T-maze. These differences in DLS inactivation effects across appetitive and aversive tasks support the view that task motivation plays crucial roles in guiding learning, memory, and behavior. Additionally, differences in DLS inactivation effects between tests of acquisition and expression suggest that the DLS is required during early acquisition but not expression of the response learning strategy.
KW - Habit
KW - Place
KW - Response
KW - Spatial
KW - Striatum
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U2 - 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.06.009
DO - 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.06.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 26095514
AN - SCOPUS:84936937416
SN - 1074-7427
VL - 123
SP - 205
EP - 216
JO - Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
JF - Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
ER -