Effects of central amygdala chemogenetic manipulation and prior chronic alcohol exposure on Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer.

Background: Recent work suggests that a history of chronic alcohol exposure can enhance the influence of nondrug reward cues on ongoing actions. This is often modeled in Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) tasks that examine the interaction between Pavlovian and instrumental learning processes, usually reflected as an increase in action vigor during the presentation of a reward-associated cue. Though prior chronic alcohol exposure strengthens this type of cue-guided behavior, the neural mechanisms underlying such enhancements are not known.

Effects of chronic alcohol exposure on motivation-based value updating.

Dysfunctional decision-making has been observed in alcohol dependence. However, the specific underlying processes disrupted have yet to be identified. Important to goal-directed decision-making is one's motivational state, which is used to update the value of actions.

Prior chronic alcohol exposure enhances Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer.

Alcohol dependence is associated with aberrant decision-making processes, particularly in the presence of alcohol-related environmental cues. For instance, alcohol cues can trigger alcohol seeking, consumption, and even relapse behavior. Recently, works have suggested that alcohol dependence may induce more general alterations in cued processes that support adaptive behavior, including enhanced cue control of volitional behavior unrelated to alcohol use.

Review of Orbitofrontal Cortex in Alcohol Dependence: A Disrupted Cognitive Map?

Alcoholism is a persistent worldwide problem associated with long-lasting impairments to decision making processes. Some aspects of dysfunction are thought to reflect alcohol-induced changes to relevant brain areas such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In this review, we will examine how chronic alcohol exposure alters OFC function to potentially contribute to maladaptive decision making, and explore experimental behavioral approaches that may be better suited to test whether alcohol dependence disrupts OFC's function.

Effects of multi-modal cues on conditioned place preference in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice.

Rationale: Previous work has shown that some mouse strains (e.g., DBA/2J [D2]) readily develop robust ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) while others (e.

Effects of sex on ethanol conditioned place preference, activity and variability in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice.

Previous studies of ethanol drinking in rodents have shown greater intake in females than in males, but the reasons behind this difference are unknown. To address one possible interpretation of the drinking difference, these studies tested the hypothesis that female and male mice differ in sensitivity to the rewarding effects of ethanol using the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure. To increase the generalizability of the results, sex differences were examined in two inbred mouse strains known to differ in their sensitivity to ethanol reward: C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2).