Neural regulation of effort in goal-directed behaviors

描述（由申请人提供）：寻找和获得食物是生存的关键因素。然而，环境和经济的制约因素会增加与工作相关的反应成本，从而给寻求食物的行为带来负担。克服这些成本的能力可能涉及特定大脑区域和神经递质系统的协同激活。延髓核及其多巴胺能输入密切参与食物和药物强化的调节，并与寻找食物过程中的努力调节有关。此外，与奖励事件相关的线索由丘脑核神经元编码。这项建议旨在检查细胞和神经化学活性的行为任务，系统地改变工作相关的反应成本，并提供线索，预测响应要求的核脑桥。多神经元电生理学将被用来检查在这个任务中的脑桥核细胞放电。快速扫描循环伏安法将评估亚秒多巴胺释放在相同的行为范例。这项研究的结果将提供深入了解的神经成分被认为是调节和促进行为的努力，在寻求食物，并可能有影响的反应成本与药物奖励。

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.