Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Recent Updates in Modeling Risky Decision Making in Rodents

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Psychiatric Disorders

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2011))

Abstract

Excessive preference for risky over safe options is a hallmark of several psychiatric disorders. Here we describe a behavioral task that models such risky decision making in rats. In this task, rats are given choices between small, safe rewards and large rewards accompanied by risk of footshock punishment. The risk of punishment changes within a test session, allowing quantification of decision making at different levels of risk. Importantly, this task can yield a wide degree of reliable individual variability, allowing the characterization of rats as “risk-taking” or “risk-averse.” The task has been demonstrated to be effective for testing the effects of pharmacological agents and neurobiological manipulations, and the individual variability (which mimics the human population) allows assessment of behavioral and neurobiological distinctions among subjects based on their risk-taking profile.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bechara A, Dolan S, Denburg N, Hindes A, Anderson SW, Nathan PE (2001) Decision-making deficits, linked to dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in alcohol and stimulant abusers. Neuropsychologia 39:376–389

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Drechsler R, Rizzo P, Steinhausen HC (2008) Decision-making on an explicit risk-taking task in preadolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Neural Transm 115:201–209

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ernst M, Kimes AS, London ED, Matochik JA, Eldreth D, Tata S, Contoreggi C, Leff M, Bolla K (2003) Neural substrates of decision making in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Am J Psychiatry 160:1061–1070

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ludewig K, Paulus MP, Vollenweider FX (2003) Behavioural dysregulation of decision-making in deficit but not nondeficit schizophrenia patients. Psychiatry Res 119:293–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Evenden JL, Ryan CN (1996) The pharmacology of impulsive behavior in rats: the effects of drugs on response choice with varying delays of reinforcement. Psychopharmacology 128:161–170

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cardinal RN, Robbins TW, Everitt BJ (2000) The effects of d-amphetamine, chlordiazepoxide, α-flupenthixol and behavioural manipulations on choice of signalled and unsignalled delayed reinforcement in rats. Psychopharmacology 152:362–375

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Winstanley CA, Dalley JW, Theobald DE, Robbins MJ (2003) Global 5-HT depletion attenuates the ability of amphetamine to decrease impulse choice on a delay-discounting task in rats. Psychopharmacology 170:320–331

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Simon NW, Mendez IA, Setlow B (2007) Cocaine exposure causes long term increases in impulsive choice. Behav Neurosci 121:543–549

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Simon NW, Gilbert RJ, Mayse JD, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2009) Balancing risk and reward: a rat model of risky decision making. Neuropsychopharmacology 34:2208–2217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mitchell MR, Weiss VG, Beas BS, Morgan D, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2014) Adolescent risk taking, cocaine self-administration, and striatal dopamine signaling. Neuropsychopharmacology 39:955–962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Shimp KG, Mitchell MR, Beas BS, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2015) Affective and cognitive mechanisms of risky decision making. Neurobiol Learn Mem 117:60–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Deng JV, Orsini CA, Shimp KG, Setlow B (2018) MeCP2 expression in a rat model of risky decision making. Neuroscience 369:212–221

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Simon NW, Montgomery KS, Beas BS, Mitchell MR, LaSarge CL, Mendez IA, Banuelos C, Vokes CM, Taylor AB, Haberman RP, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2011) Dopaminergic modulation of risky decision making. J Neurosci 31:17460–17470

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Van Den Bos R, Lasthius W, Den Heijer E, Van Der Harst J, Spruijt B (2006) Toward a rodent model of the Iowa gambling task. Behav Res Methods 38:470–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Zeeb FD, Robbins TW, Winstanley CA (2009) Serotonergic and dopaminergic modulation of gambling behavior as assessed using a novel rat gambling task. Neuropsychopharmacology 34:2329–2343

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Jentsch JD, Woods JA, Groman SM, Seu E (2010) Behavioral characteristics and neural mechanisms mediating performance in a rodent version of the Balloon Analog Risk Task. Neuropsychopharmacology 35:1797–1806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cardinal R, Howes N (2005) Effects of lesions of the nucleus accumbens core on choice between small certain rewards and large uncertain rewards in rats. BMC Neurosci 6:37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Negus S (2005) Effects of punishment on choice between cocaine and food in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology 181:244–252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Talmi D, Dayan P, Kiebel SJ, Frith CD, Dolan RJ (2009) How humans integrate the prospects of pain and reward during choice. J Neurosci 29:14617–14626

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Anselme P (2015) Does reward unpredictability reflect risk? Behav Brain Res 280C:119–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Orsini CA, Willis ML, Gilbert RJ, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2016) Sex differences in a rat model of risky decision making. Behav Neurosci 130:50–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Gabriel, Freels, Setlow, & Simon (2019). Risky Decision-making is associated with impulsive action and sensitivity to first-time nicotine exposure. Behavioural Brain Research, 359, 579–88

    Google Scholar 

  23. Orsini CA, Hernandez CM, Singhal S, Kelly KB, Frazier CJ, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2017) Optogenetic inhibition reveals distinct roles for basolateral amygdala activity at discrete time points during risky decision making. J Neurosci 37:11537–11548

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Orsini CA, Heshmati SC, Garman TS, Wall SC, Bizon JL, Setlow B (2018) Contributions of medial prefrontal cortex to decision making involving risk of punishment. Neuropharmacology 139:205–216

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Zeeb FD, Winstanley CA (2011) Lesions of the basolateral amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex differentially affect acquisition and performance of a rodent gambling task. J Neurosci 31:2197–2204

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Zeeb FD, Winstanley CA (2013) Functional disconnection of the orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala impairs acquisition of a rat gambling task and disrupts animals’ ability to alter decision-making behavior after reinforcer devaluation. J Neurosci 33:6434–6443

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Caitlin A. Orsini & Shelby L. Blaes

  2. Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Barry Setlow

  3. Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Barry Setlow

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Barry Setlow

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    Nicholas W. Simon

Authors
  1. Caitlin A. Orsini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shelby L. Blaes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Barry Setlow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Nicholas W. Simon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barry Setlow .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Firas H. Kobeissy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

Orsini, C.A., Blaes, S.L., Setlow, B., Simon, N.W. (2019). Recent Updates in Modeling Risky Decision Making in Rodents. In: Kobeissy, F. (eds) Psychiatric Disorders. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2011. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9554-7_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9554-7_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9553-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9554-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation