News

Monday's Seminar - Prof. Sylvie Granon

Dates

on the May 16, 2019

From 11h00 to 12h00
Location
School of Medicine
Amphi. C

Dr. Pascal Barone invites Prof. Sylvie Granon (Institute of Neuroscience, Paris-Saclay)

Neurobiology of social and non social decision-making: competing rewards, risk-taking, and uncertainty

Sylvie Granon

Institute of Neuroscience, Cognition & Behavior, Neurobiology of Decision-making,CNPS, Paris-Saclay, France




Keywords : Decision-making, behaviors, animal model

Abstract

One of the main characteristic of adapted decision-making is to allow rapid and frequent adaptations in a changing or uncertain environment. The ability to adapt to context which don’t allow to predict an exact issue is at the base of cognitive adaptation and is frequently altered in psychiatric, degenerative or developmental disorders. In my lab we study how various brain networks and their neurochemistry participate in such cognitive adaptation, how individual features modulate this adaptation, and whether it can be shaped by environmental manipulation.

In order to model higher cognitive functions in mice we design dedicated behavioral tasks that trigger decision-making processes during which animals will evaluate putative outcomes in order to make choices. In particular, we designed social tasks that, like in humans, generate uncertainty. We also designed a gambling task for mice that promotes decisions without knowledge of action-outcome contingencies, hence leading to the emergence of individual choice strategies.

Using these two behavioral models we show that the ability to integrate the management of uncertainty and of competition/conflict between attractive rewards require an intact prefrontal cortex and functional cholinergic and 5-HT systems. In addition, we identified individual behavioral traits related to risk-taking, reward mechanisms, and 5-HT activity as correlated to individual choice strategy. To finish with, I will show preliminary data showing that we can shape decision strategies –and the prefrontal activity-by altering the reward system activity.

The data presented show the conditions of the prefrontal networks plasticity and of its cognitive correlates.

Contact :
Dr. Pascal Barone :