Affective Control of Decision Making

Descripción del proyecto

La participación de la amígdala en las decisiones

El modo en que los animales procesan la información y las decisiones no siempre les lleva al mejor resultado. Una mala decisión podría provocarles la muerte, mientras que la decisión correcta les garantizaría la supervivencia. La toma de decisiones es un proceso complejo en el que la amígdala, considerada por lo general una de las principales estructuras del cerebro, desempeña una función esencial en la orientación de las elecciones. El proyecto ACoDM, financiado con fondos europeos, estudiará la función de la proyección amigdaloestriatal (amígdala basal a cuerpo estriado dorsomedial o DMS) y los mecanismos sinápticos subyacentes a la interacción de esta aportación con la conocidísima vía corticoestriatal (corteza prelímbica, PrL a DMS). Los resultados arrojarán luz sobre la participación de la amígdala.

Objetivo

The environment is an ever changing system to which an animal has to properly respond in order to survive. Decisions are made in unfamiliar situations, where risk assessment critically impacts the decision making; or based on previous experience, where the animal has prior knowledge of possible outcomes. Decision making is a complex process that requires the interplay of multiple neural structures and constant re-evaluation of the outcomes that involve emotional factors. The brain structure most linked to emotion and affective behaviour is the amygdala and its aberrant function caused by lesions or neurodegenerative diseases is associated with impaired decision-making.
The proposed research aims to understand the affective aspects of circuit mechanisms underlying decision making. Specifically, the role of an understudied pathway, the amygdalostriatal projection (basal amygdala, BA to dorsomedial striatum, DMS), in decision making; and the synaptic mechanisms underlying the interaction of this input with the well-known corticostriatal pathway (prelimbic cortex, PrL to DMS). Thus, a first goal aims to reveal the function of the BA inputs to DMS in an approach-avoidance conflict and to assess the association of neural activity with decision making behaviour. The second goal aims to uncover circuit mechanisms underlying the control of DMS neuron spiking by the amygdalostriatal pathway and how the cortical and amygdalar inputs impact each other in controlling the DMS activity.
These experiments will reveal the role of BA projection in decision-making at DMS level and how the PrL and BA inputs affect neuron activity at single cell level, results that can elucidate the role of the convergent amygdalostriatal and corticostriatal pathways in control of DMS function. Our findings will elucidate the participation of the amygdala in a functional circuit involving the DMS and uncover how it enables efficacious development of optimal strategies during decision making.

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