Prefrontal cortical and striatal areas have been identified by inactivation or lesion studies to be required for behavioral flexibility, including selecting and processing of different types of information. In order to identify these networks activated selectively during the acquisition of new reward contingency rules, rats were trained to discriminate orientations of bars presented in pseudorandom sequence on two video monitors positioned behind the goal sites on a T-maze with return arms. A second group already trained in the visual discrimination task learned to alternate left and right goal arm visits in the same maze while ignoring the visual cues still being presented. In each experimental group, once the rats reached criterion performance, the brains were prepared after a 90-min delay for later processing for c-fos immunohistochemistry. While both groups extinguished a prior strategy and acquired a new rule, they differed by the identity of the strategies and previous learning experience. Among the 28 forebrain areas examined, there were significant increases in the relative density of c-fos immunoreactive cell bodies after learning the second rule in the prefrontal cortex cingulate, the prelimbic and infralimbic areas, the dorsomedial striatum and the core of the nucleus accumbens, the ventral subiculum, and the central nucleus of the amygdala. These largely correspond to structures previously identified in inactivation studies, and their neurons fire synchronously during learning and strategy shifts. The data suggest that this dynamic network may underlie reward-based selection for action—a type of cognitive flexibility.

中文翻译：

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在 T 迷宫中的规则之间转换后大鼠前额皮质和纹状体区域的激活

通过失活或损伤研究已确定前额皮质和纹状体区域是行为灵活性所必需的，包括选择和处理不同类型的信息。为了识别在获得新的奖励应急规则期间选择性激活的这些网络，训练大鼠辨别在两个视频监视器上以伪随机序列呈现的条的方向，该监视器位于带有返回臂的T型迷宫的目标位置后面。第二组已经接受过视觉辨别任务训练，学会了在同一迷宫中交替访问左右目标臂，同时忽略仍在呈现的视觉提示。在每个实验组中，一旦大鼠达到标准性能，延迟 90 分钟后准备大脑，以便稍后进行 c-fos 免疫组织化学处理。虽然两组都取消了先前的策略并获得了新的规则，但他们在策略的特性和先前的学习经验方面有所不同。在检查的28个前脑区域中，学习第二条规则后，前额皮质扣带回、前边缘和下边缘区域、背内侧纹状体和伏隔核核心的c-fos免疫反应细胞体的相对密度显着增加，腹下托和杏仁核中央核。这些很大程度上对应于先前在失活研究中确定的结构，并且它们的神经元在学习和策略转变期间同步放电。数据表明，这种动态网络可能是基于奖励的行动选择的基础——一种认知灵活性。