Sensitivity to cognitive effort mediates psychostimulant effects on a novel rodent cost/benefit decision-making task.

ABSTRACT: Amotivational states and insufficient recruitment of mental effort have been observed in a variety of clinical populations, including depression, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Previous rodent models of effort-based decision making have utilized physical costs whereas human studies of effort are primarily cognitive in nature, and it is unclear whether the two types of effortful decision making are underpinned by the same neurobiological processes. We therefore designed a novel rat cognitive effort task (rCET) based on the 5-choice serial reaction time task, a well-validated measure of attention and impulsivity. Within each trial of the rCET, rats are given the choice between an easy or hard visuospatial discrimination,

SUBMITTER: Cocker PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3376315 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature