The locus coeruleus mediates behavioral flexibility.

ABSTRACT: Behavioral flexibility is the ability to adjust behavioral strategies in response to changing environmental contingencies. A major hypothesis in the field posits that the activity of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) plays an important role in mediating behavioral flexibility. To test this hypothesis, we developed a tactile-based rule-shift detection task in which mice responded to left and right whisker deflections in a context-dependent manner and exhibited varying degrees of switching behavior. Recording spiking activity from optogenetically tagged neurons in the LC at millisecond precision during task performance revealed a prominent graded correlation between baseline LC activity and behavioral flexibility, where higher baseline activity following a rule change was associated with f

SUBMITTER: McBurney-Lin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9662304 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature