Behavioral neuroscientist interested in outcome comparisons that involve striatal computations. Supervisors: Kent Berridge, Wolfram Schultz, and Donald Woodward Phone: 419 372-9408 Address: JP Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green Ohio 43403
• Lesions to dorsal and ventral striatum and free choice were examined. • Lesion effects were obs... more • Lesions to dorsal and ventral striatum and free choice were examined. • Lesion effects were observed on free choice and not serial reward responses. • Ventral striatal lesions led to impaired optimal preference and risk aversion. • Dorsal striatal lesions led to altered appetitive actions but minimal choice deficits. • Striatal function is crucial to optimal free choice expression and involves diverse components of reward processing. a b s t r a c t The striatum is a key structure involved in reward processing and choice. Recently, we have developed a paradigm to explore how components of reward processing work together or independently during choice behavior. These components include reward discrimination, preference and relative valuation, and the goal of the present study was to determine how the striatum is involved in these dissociable components during this novel free choice paradigm. We tested choice utilizing two different outcome series with one being a more straightforward single-option discrimination anchored by a 0 reward outcome , and the other as a multi-option outcome discrimination of greater difficulty. We compared the free choice reward task to a sequential reward task and an extinction task. Striatal lesions impaired responding only in the free choice version with alterations in both appetitive and consummatory measures. Ventral striatal lesions had greater impact altering discrimination, preference and relative valuation in both the single and multi-option week studies. A major factor involved in these deficits was a significant aversion to the multi-option that contained a larger outcome option but with a longer delay to reward. Dorsal striatal lesions caused less impairment even leading to enhanced choice behavior compared to control animals during the more difficult multi-option free choice series. Overall, the results suggest that the context of action is crucial when linking striatal function to choice behavior and its diverse components. The implications include the idea that striatal involvement in decision-making is increased when responses are self-paced and diverse in a more naturalistic environment.
Presents an obituary for Jaak Panksepp, who died April 18, 2017. Panksepp reshaped the landscape ... more Presents an obituary for Jaak Panksepp, who died April 18, 2017. Panksepp reshaped the landscape of psychology by highlighting emotions and coincident feelings in basic and clinical research. Most of his career was spent convincing others that the key to understanding human mental illness was the understanding of primal emotional operating systems in conserved neural circuitry. His framework was carefully laid out in his book Affective Neuroscience: The Foundation of Human and Animal Emotions (1998). His controversial writings vigorously pushed for the acceptance of nonhuman animal feelings as primary states that link to motivated action and emotional expression. His agenda included developing animal models of mental illness with objective measures of emotion and removing the focus on higher level cognition. Panksepp completed the brunt of his research on the emotional operating systems while a professor at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) from 1972 to 1998. After retiring emeritus from Bowling Green, he was the Bailey Endowed Chair of Animal Well-Being Science at Washington State University until his passing. (PsycINFO Database Record
International Review of Research in Mental Retardation, 2004
... In humans, self-injurious acts, such as biting and hitting, are common in the broad spectrum ... more ... In humans, self-injurious acts, such as biting and hitting, are common in the broad spectrum of developmental disorders, particularly in cases with more severe degrees of cognitive and emotional disability ( [Bodfish 1996] , [Griffin 1987] , [Murphy 1999] , [Newell 1999] , [Oliver ...
• Lesions to dorsal and ventral striatum and free choice were examined. • Lesion effects were obs... more • Lesions to dorsal and ventral striatum and free choice were examined. • Lesion effects were observed on free choice and not serial reward responses. • Ventral striatal lesions led to impaired optimal preference and risk aversion. • Dorsal striatal lesions led to altered appetitive actions but minimal choice deficits. • Striatal function is crucial to optimal free choice expression and involves diverse components of reward processing. a b s t r a c t The striatum is a key structure involved in reward processing and choice. Recently, we have developed a paradigm to explore how components of reward processing work together or independently during choice behavior. These components include reward discrimination, preference and relative valuation, and the goal of the present study was to determine how the striatum is involved in these dissociable components during this novel free choice paradigm. We tested choice utilizing two different outcome series with one being a more straightforward single-option discrimination anchored by a 0 reward outcome , and the other as a multi-option outcome discrimination of greater difficulty. We compared the free choice reward task to a sequential reward task and an extinction task. Striatal lesions impaired responding only in the free choice version with alterations in both appetitive and consummatory measures. Ventral striatal lesions had greater impact altering discrimination, preference and relative valuation in both the single and multi-option week studies. A major factor involved in these deficits was a significant aversion to the multi-option that contained a larger outcome option but with a longer delay to reward. Dorsal striatal lesions caused less impairment even leading to enhanced choice behavior compared to control animals during the more difficult multi-option free choice series. Overall, the results suggest that the context of action is crucial when linking striatal function to choice behavior and its diverse components. The implications include the idea that striatal involvement in decision-making is increased when responses are self-paced and diverse in a more naturalistic environment.
Presents an obituary for Jaak Panksepp, who died April 18, 2017. Panksepp reshaped the landscape ... more Presents an obituary for Jaak Panksepp, who died April 18, 2017. Panksepp reshaped the landscape of psychology by highlighting emotions and coincident feelings in basic and clinical research. Most of his career was spent convincing others that the key to understanding human mental illness was the understanding of primal emotional operating systems in conserved neural circuitry. His framework was carefully laid out in his book Affective Neuroscience: The Foundation of Human and Animal Emotions (1998). His controversial writings vigorously pushed for the acceptance of nonhuman animal feelings as primary states that link to motivated action and emotional expression. His agenda included developing animal models of mental illness with objective measures of emotion and removing the focus on higher level cognition. Panksepp completed the brunt of his research on the emotional operating systems while a professor at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) from 1972 to 1998. After retiring emeritus from Bowling Green, he was the Bailey Endowed Chair of Animal Well-Being Science at Washington State University until his passing. (PsycINFO Database Record
International Review of Research in Mental Retardation, 2004
... In humans, self-injurious acts, such as biting and hitting, are common in the broad spectrum ... more ... In humans, self-injurious acts, such as biting and hitting, are common in the broad spectrum of developmental disorders, particularly in cases with more severe degrees of cognitive and emotional disability ( [Bodfish 1996] , [Griffin 1987] , [Murphy 1999] , [Newell 1999] , [Oliver ...
The Human Affectome Project was launched by the non-profit organization Neuroqualia (www.neuroqua... more The Human Affectome Project was launched by the non-profit organization Neuroqualia (www.neuroqualia.org) in 2015 with the seemingly impossible goal: To map a psychological process and form possible definitions and working models for affective states and related emotions. Twelve reviews based on emotions, feelings and motivation were written dedicated to mapping the brain basis of affect. A capstone piece 'The Human Affectome' provides a foundation for the special issue by giving detailed up-to-date definitions for key terms including feeling, affect, emotion and mood. Critically, the piece offers an overall model synthesizing three main features of affect: valence, motivation, and arousal. Affect itself is explored as the main umbrella function capturing all feeling states and related processes. Overall, the project and the special issue has been a highly successful interdisciplinary effort producing a novel approach that can be used to understand, guide and revise contemporary research on the brain basis of feeling and how diverse feeling states interact with each other in typical and atypical fashions.
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