Grant: Project Grant

Impairments in decision making entailing cost/benefit evaluations about risks and rewards have been observed in a number of disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and drug addiction. The cognitive dysfunction associated with these disorders are thought to be due in part to dysfunction in pathways linking the frontal lobes to subcortical systems and neurochemical imbalances in brain dopamine levels. However, is unclear how these different brain systems work in concert to regulate different aspects of risk/reward decision making. We intend to clarify these issues using animal models of "gambling" behaviour. We will use cutting-edge techniques that can manipulate brain pathways with exquisite cellular precision, combined with those that allow us to monitor neurochemical release to elucidate how distinct neural networks are engaged the decision process to promote adaptive vs maladaptive decisions, and some of the neurochemical mechanisms related to dopamine that can influence these decisions. These studies will provide important new information about how different brain circuits interact to solve these types of risk/reward decision making problems. Furthermore, the information provided by these studies may yield important insight into the brain dysfunction that underlies impairments in this form of cognition associated with a number of psychiatric disorders.