Behavioral consequences of reward downshift: role of the prefrontal cortex

Abstract

The present experiments were designed to determine whether bilateral electrolytic lesions on three prefrontal areas, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO), and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), modulate performance during reward downshift. ACC lesions retarded the recovery from a type of reward downshift, consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC). VLO lesions had a small effect, in that they decreased cSNC during the late part of the downshift trial. There was no evidence that mPFC lesions played a role on cSNC, although they disrupted consummatory behavior and sucrose preference. Further testing showed that VLO lesions did not have effects on sucrose preference, but affected autoshaping acquisition under partial reinforcement. The present experiments, together with previous research, suggest that the ACC and the insular cortex are critical areas within the prefrontal cortex for the control of the response to and the recovery from cSNC.