Event Abstract Back to Event Distinct effects of Anterior Cingulate, Orbitofrontal and Prelimbic cortex lesions on decision-making in a Rat Gambling Task Marion Rivalan1*, Etienne Coutureau2 and Francoise Dellu-Hagedorn1 1 CNRS UMR 5227 MAC, France 2 CNRS UMR 5228, France Complex decision-making is profoundly impaired in psychiatric and neurological disorders (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, addictions or frontal cortex lesions), but also in some healthy individuals for whom immediate gratification prevails over long-term gain. These deficits can be revealed experimentally using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). In order to explore the neurobiological bases of decision-making, we designed a Rat Gambling Task (RGT) analogous to the IGT. This test provides rapid and specific measure of adapted and maladapted decision-making using healthy rats. Like in humans, good but also poor decision-makers (preferring immediate larger reward despite suffering large loses or without any preference) can be identified within a single session. The effects of Orbitofrontal (OF), Anterior Cingulate (AC) or Prelimbique (PL) cortex lesions were compared to sham lesions on proportions of good and poor performers in this task, as well as during the time-course of decision-making. OF and PL rats were characterized by nonflexible choices in some individuals (50% and 38% respectively) based on spatial preferences developed during training. This behaviour was not observed in sham and only in a few AC rats. Among the “flexible” rats, good and poor decision-makers remained in similar proportions except for PL rats, being mostly undecided. None of the PL rats preferred bad options. Whereas behaviour of poor decision-makers with lesions was unchanged, AC lesions markedly slowered decision-making in good performers. No relationship between behaviour and size of the lesions was observed. Our results reveal that rats solve a complex decision-making task by recruiting prefrontal cortex areas differentially involved in action/consequence associations, behavioural flexibility and sensitivity to reward. This model demonstrates good face and constructs validities and provides a unique opportunity to easily explore the neurobiological bases of complex decision making. Conference: 41st European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting, Rhodes Island, Greece, 13 Sep - 18 Sep, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster presentations Citation: Rivalan M, Coutureau E and Dellu-Hagedorn F (2009). Distinct effects of Anterior Cingulate, Orbitofrontal and Prelimbic cortex lesions on decision-making in a Rat Gambling Task. Conference Abstract: 41st European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.08.2009.09.279 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 12 Jun 2009; Published Online: 12 Jun 2009. * Correspondence: Marion Rivalan, CNRS UMR 5227 MAC, Bordeaux, France, francoise.dellu@u-bordeaux2.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Marion Rivalan Etienne Coutureau Francoise Dellu-Hagedorn Google Marion Rivalan Etienne Coutureau Francoise Dellu-Hagedorn Google Scholar Marion Rivalan Etienne Coutureau Francoise Dellu-Hagedorn PubMed Marion Rivalan Etienne Coutureau Francoise Dellu-Hagedorn Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.