Neural regulation of effort in goal-directed behaviors

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Seeking and securing food is a critical element of survival. However, environmental and economic constraints can burden food-seeking behaviors by increasing work-related response costs. The ability to overcome these costs likely involves the concerted activation of specific brain regions and neurotransmitter systems. The nucleus accumbens and its dopaminergic inputs are intimately involved in the modulation of food and drug reinforcement, and have been implicated in the regulation of effort during food seeking. Further, cues associated with rewarding events are encoded by nucleus accumbens neurons. This proposal seeks to examine cellular and neurochemical activity in the nucleus accumbens during a behavioral task that systematically varies work-related response costs and provides cues that predict response requirements. Multi-neuron electrophysiology will be employed to examine nucleus accumbens cell firing during this task. Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry will assess sub-second dopamine release in the same behavioral paradigm. The results of this study will provide insight into the neural components believed to regulate and promote behavioral effort during food seeking, and may have implications for response costs related to drug rewards.