Behavioral Interventions Can Improve Brain Injury-Induced Deficits in Behavioral Flexibility and Impulsivity Linked to Impaired Reward-Feedback Beta Oscillations.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects a large population, resulting in severe cognitive impairments. Although cognitive rehabilitation is an accepted treatment for some deficits, studies in patients are limited in ability to probe physiological and behavioral mechanisms. Therefore, animal models are needed to optimize strategies.

Acute gut microbiome changes after traumatic brain injury are associated with chronic deficits in decision-making and impulsivity in male rats.

The mechanisms underlying chronic psychiatric-like impairments after traumatic brain injury (TBI) are currently unknown. The goal of the present study was to assess the role of diet and the gut microbiome in psychiatric symptoms after TBI. Rats were randomly assigned to receive a high-fat diet (HFD) or calorie-matched low-fat diet (LFD).

Exposure to uncertainty mediates the effects of traumatic brain injury on probabilistic decision-making in rats.

: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with numerous psychiatric comorbidities, and subclinical psychiatric symptoms. While many symptoms have been replicated in animal models of brain injury, a vast majority of studies utilize naïve rats as subjects, which fail to mimic the complex learning history of human patients.: In the current study, we evaluated the effects of a brain injury in animals with early exposure to uncertainty on post-injury decision-making in a probabilistic task, the rodent gambling task (RGT).

Stimulus contributions to operant resurgence.

In two experiments, pigeons were exposed to a three-phase resurgence procedure (train Response A; extinguish Response A and train Response B; extinguish Response B). In the first experiment, the stimuli associated with phases were different, resulting in a resurgence procedure combined with an ABC renewal procedure. Presenting the novel stimulus, C, during extinction of both responses in the third phase resulted in minimal resurgence.