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，环境和经济约束会增加与工作相关的响应成本，从而加重觅食行为的负担。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。伏隔核及其多巴胺能输入与食物和药物强化的调节密切相关，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是由伏隔核神经元编码的。本研究旨在研究在行为任务中伏隔核的细胞和神经化学活动，该任务系统地改变了与工作相关的反应成本，并提供了预测反应需求的线索。多神经元电生理将被用来检查伏隔核细胞在这个任务中的放电情况。快速扫描循环伏安法将在相同的行为模式下评估亚秒多巴胺释放。这项研究的结果将提供对在寻找食物过程中调节和促进行为努力的神经成分的深入了解，并可能对与药物奖励相关的反应成本产生影响。

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.