Manipulating Decisiveness in Decision Making: Effects of Clonidine on Hippocampal Search Strategies

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
S Amemiya, A David Redish

Abstract

Decisiveness is the ability to commit to a decision quickly and efficiently; in contrast, indecision entails the repeated consideration of multiple alternative possibilities. In humans, the α2-adrenergic receptor agonist clonidine increases decisiveness in tasks that require planning through unknown neural mechanisms. In rats, indecision is manifested as reorienting behaviors at choice points (vicarious trial and error [VTE]), during which hippocampal representations alternate between prospective options. To determine whether the increase in decisiveness driven by clonidine also entails changes in hippocampal search processes, we compared the effect of clonidine on spatial representations in hippocampal neural ensembles as rats passed through a T-shaped decision point. Consistent with previous experiments, hippocampal representations reflected both chosen and unchosen paths during VTE events under saline control conditions. Also, consistent with previous experiments, hippocampal representations reflected the chosen path more than the unchosen path when the animal did not show VTE at the choice point. Injection of clonidine suppressed the spatial representation of the unchosen path at the choice point on VTE laps and hastened th...Continue Reading

Citations

Feb 20, 2016·Nature Reviews. Neuroscience·A David Redish
Sep 23, 2016·Nature Communications·Nathaniel James Powell, A David Redish
Nov 14, 2018·The Clinical Neuropsychologist·Robert M Bilder, Steven P Reise
Mar 21, 2019·Journal of Neurophysiology·Brandy SchmidtA David Redish
Jul 19, 2019·The Behavioral and Brain Sciences·Michael GileadNira Liberman
Jul 3, 2019·Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience·Céline Drieu, Michaël Zugaro
Jul 13, 2018·Psychopharmacology·Caroline I JahnSebastien Bouret
Jul 27, 2021·Frontiers in Neuroscience·Jesse T MilesSheri J Y Mizumori
Aug 10, 2021·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·Lennart WittkuhnNicolas W Schuck
Dec 28, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·A David RedishAnna Zilverstand

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