Grant: Operating Grant

Impairments in decision making entailing cost/benefit evaluations about risks and rewards have been observed in a number of disorders such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, stimulant addiction. In each of these conditions are thought to be due in part to dysfunction in brain dopamine transmission. Similarly, drugs that increase dopamine activity can promote risk-seeking behaviours, such as pathological gambling. These drugs stimulate receptors in the brain that dopamine interacts with to facilitate movement and cognition. However, is unclear are what parts of the brain, and what specific receptors dopamine may act on to alter risk-based decision making. We intend to clarify these issues using an animal model of "gambling" behaviour. We have observed that drugs that increase dopamine release in the brain increase "risky decision-making" in a rodent version of a gambling task. This research project will investigate where in the brain, and on which receptors dopamine acts on to promote risky choices. We will also monitor changes in neural activity in certain brain regions where dopamine is prominent that are associated with risk-based decision making. 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.