Anterior cingulate cortex involved in social food‐foraging decision‐making strategies of rats

Abstract

IntroductionDecision making as a complex cognitive process involves assessing risk, reward, and costs. Typically, it has been studied in nonsocial contexts. We have developed a novel laboratory model used with rodents to detect food‐foraging decision‐making strategies in different social settings. However, the brain regions that mediate these behaviors are not well identified. Substantial evidence shows that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) participates in evaluation of social information and in decision making.MethodsIn this study, we investigated the effect of bilateral lesions in the ACC on established behaviors. Kainic acid (KA) was administered bilaterally to induce ACC lesions, and saline microinjection into the ACC was used in the sham group.ResultsIn contrast to the sham‐lesioned animals, when faced with the choice of foraging under a social context, rats with ACC lesions preferred foraging for the less desirable food. Moreover, in these situations, the total amount of food foraged by the ACC‐lesioned group was less than the amount foraged by the sham group. Notably, neither social interactions nor social agonistic behaviors were affected by ACC lesions.ConclusionsThese data suggest that the ACC is a key region underlying neural processing of social decision‐making, specifically tending to compete for foraging high predictive reward food.

Optogenetic and chemogenetic approaches reveal differences in neuronal circuits that mediate initiation and maintenance of social interaction

“…Furthermore, our findings revealed that both the ACC and OFC cortical regions, known to be involved in social decision-making [ 35 – 39 ], project to CeA neurons that are activated during social interaction with a partner. Inhibition of the OFC-CeA projection disrupted the initiation of social interaction, while inhibition of the ACC-CeA pathway disturbed its maintenance.…”

Investigation of the Behavioraland Neurophysiological Basis for Prosocialand Cooperative Relationships

“…Некоторыми авторами проводились исследования взаимосвязи принятия решений в пищевом поведении в социальном контексте с выбором обычной или более вкусной пищи в различных боксах с отсутствием или присутствием другой крысы. Было показано, что у крыс с повреждением участков передней цингулярной области коры достоверно снижается потребление пищи по сравнению с контрольными животными в условиях социального взаимодействия и они переходят к приему менее ценной пищи без присутствия другой особи [32]. При этом в данном исследовании другие формы социальных взаимоотношений (агонистические или общие социальные контакты) не были изменены у экспериментальных животных по сравнению с контрольными.…”