Role of the Perigenual Anterior Cingulate and Orbitofrontal Cortex in Contingency Learning in the Marmoset.

Two learning mechanisms contribute to decision-making: goal-directed actions and the "habit" system, by which action-outcome and stimulus-response associations are formed, respectively. Rodent lesion studies and human neuroimaging have implicated both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the neural basis of contingency learning, a critical component of goal-directed actions, though some published findings are conflicting. We sought to reconcile the existing literature by comparing the effects of excitotoxic lesions of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), a region of the mPFC, and OFC on contingency learning in the marmoset monkey using a touchscreen-based paradigm, in which the contingent relationship between one of a pair of actions and its outcome was degraded selectively. Both the pgACC and OFC lesion groups were insensitive to the contingency degradation, whereas the control group demonstrated selectively higher performance of the nondegraded action when compared with the degraded action. These findings suggest the pgACC and OFC are both necessary for normal contingency learning and therefore goal-directed behavior.

Autonomic arousal in an appetitive context in primates: a behavioural and neural analysis.

Central to many emotional responses is the accompanying peripheral somatic and autonomic arousal, feedback from which has been hypothesized to enhance emotional memory and to contribute to appraisal processes and decision making, and dysfunction of which may contribute to antisocial behaviour. Whilst peripheral arousal may accompany both positive and negative emotional contexts, its relationship with the former is poorly understood, as are the neural mechanisms underlying such a relationship. The purpose of the present study was to determine the autonomic correlates of anticipation, as well as consumption, of high incentive food, in the freely moving common marmoset and to investigate the contribution of the amygdala to such effects. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were measured remotely by a telemetric device implanted into the descending aorta and behavioural responses were monitored whilst marmosets viewed preferred or non-preferred foods and were then allowed access to eat those foods. A marked rise in blood pressure in unrestrained marmosets was observed in response both to the sight of highly preferred foods (anticipatory period) as well as during the actual consumption of those foods (consummatory period). Excitotoxic lesions of the amygdala abolished the autonomic arousal in the anticipatory period, but spared both the behavioural arousal in the anticipatory period and the autonomic arousal in the consummatory period. Together these data serve as an important step towards understanding the role of autonomic arousal in emotion and its neural underpinnings.

Lesions of the orbitofrontal but not medial prefrontal cortex disrupt conditioned reinforcement in primates.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (PFC) is implicated in affective and motivated behaviors. Damage to this region, which includes the orbitofrontal cortex as well as ventral sectors of medial PFC, causes profound changes in emotional and social behavior, including impairments in certain aspects of decision making. One reinforcement mechanism that may well contribute to these behaviors is conditioned reinforcement, whereby previously neutral stimuli in the environment, by virtue of their association with primary rewards, take on reinforcing value and come to support instrumental action. Conditioned reinforcers are powerful determinants of behavior and can maintain responding over protracted periods of time in the absence of and potentially in conflict with primary reinforcers. It has already been shown that conditioned reinforcement is dependent on the amygdala, and because the amygdala projects to both the orbitofrontal cortex and the medial PFC, the present study determined whether conditioned reinforcement was also dependent on one or the other of these prefrontal regions. Comparison of the behavioral effects of selective excitotoxic lesions of the PFC in the common marmoset revealed that orbitofrontal but not medial PFC lesions disrupted two distinct measures of conditioned reinforcement: (1) acquisition of a new response and (2) sensitivity to conditioned stimulus omission on a second-order schedule. In contrast, the orbitofrontal lesion did not affect sensitivity to primary reinforcement as measured by responding on a progressive-ratio schedule and a home cage consumption test. Together, these findings demonstrate the critical and specific involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex but not the medial PFC in conditioned reinforcement.