Cognitive and neural determinants of response strategy in the dual-solution plus-maze task
- Elvira De Leonibus1,2,3,4,7,8,
- Vivian J. A. Costantini1,2,7,
- Antonio Massaro1,2,
- Georgia Mandolesi5,
- Valentina Vanni5,
- Siro Luvisetto6,
- Flaminia Pavone6,
- Alberto Oliverio1,2,6 and
- Andrea Mele1,2,6
- 1Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza,” 00185 Rome, Italy
- 2Centro di Ricerca in Neurobiologia-D. Bovet, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza,” 00185 Rome, Italy
- 3Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB), CNR, 80131 Naples, Italy
- 4Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), 80131 Naples, Italy
- 5Laboratory of Neuroplasticity, CERC-Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy
- 6Istituto di Neuroscienze, CNR-CERC, 00143 Rome, Italy
Abstract
Response strategy in the dual-solution plus maze is regarded as a form of stimulus-response learning. In this study, by using an outcome devaluation procedure, we show that it can be based on both action-outcome and stimulus-response habit learning, depending on the amount of training that the animals receive. Furthermore, we show that deactivation of the dorso-medial and the dorso-lateral striatum with Botulinum neurotoxin A, mimicked or abolished, respectively, the effects of practice on the sensitivity of the response strategy to outcome devaluation. These findings have relevant implications for the understanding of the learning mechanisms underlying different overt behaviors in this widely used maze task.
Footnotes
- Received November 8, 2010.
- Accepted February 2, 2011.
- © 2011 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
