Role of the Hippocampus in Adaptation to Reward Loss: Emotionality or Cognitive Flexibility?

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dc.contributorColodner, Kenneth
dc.contributorHaydon, KC
dc.contributor.advisorSabariego, Marta
dc.contributor.advisorWhite, André
dc.contributor.authorChitale, Saee
dc.date.accessioned2022-07-01T18:01:48Z
dc.date.available2022-07-01T18:01:48Z
dc.date.gradyear2022en_US
dc.date.issued2022-07-01en
dc.description.abstractFrustration is defined as an aversive emotional state triggered by reward loss. Despite compelling evidence associating reward loss with the etiology of anxiety and depression, neural correlates underlying adaptation to reward loss remain unidentified. Previous experiments conducted in our lab have demonstrated that hippocampal lesions impair the ability of rats to adjust to reward loss. However, it is unclear whether the impairment was due to a lack of emotionality (i.e. lesioned rats not feeling frustrated after reward loss) or a lack of cognitive flexibility (i.e. lesioned rats unable to modify previously learned responses). In order to investigate these questions, we exposed rats (with active and inactive hippocampi) to a reward-loss paradigm alongside a conditioned place preference (CPP) task designed to assess emotional responses. We found that while hippocampal-inactivated rats did not adapt their response to reward downshifts, they showed signs of negative emotion in the CPP task. This suggests that animals with a dysfunctional hippocampus do not lack emotionality but rather experience cognitive inflexibility. This research could contribute to revealing the function of neural circuits of reward loss, a critical step in developing treatments for anxiety, depression, and stress-related disorders.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNeuroscience and Behavioren_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10166/6371
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rights.restrictedpublicen_US
dc.subjectReward Lossen_US
dc.subjectHippocampusen_US
dc.subjectConditioned Place Preferenceen_US
dc.subjectDrug Associated Memoriesen_US
dc.subjectBehavioural Adaptation to Reward Lossen_US
dc.subjectDREADDsen_US
dc.titleRole of the Hippocampus in Adaptation to Reward Loss: Emotionality or Cognitive Flexibility?en_US
dc.typeThesis
mhc.degreeUndergraduateen_US
mhc.institutionMount Holyoke College

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