Banca de DEFESA: ESTELA BRAGA NEPOMOCENO

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
DISCENTE : ESTELA BRAGA NEPOMOCENO
DATA : 19/04/2022
HORA: 13:00
LOCAL: Virtual
TÍTULO:

Involvement of the insular and medial prefrontal cortices during decision making tasks in rats

PÁGINAS: 132
GRANDE ÁREA: Outra
ÁREA: Multidisciplinar
RESUMO:

The anterior insular cortex (AIC) comprises a region of sensory integration. It appears to detect salient events to guide goal-directed behavior, code tracking errors, and estimate the passage of time. Temporal processing in this region could occur by integrating representations of interoception. Projections between the AIC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) - found both in rats and humans - also suggest a possible role for these structures in the integration of autonomic responses during ongoing behavior. Few studies, however, have investigated the role of AIC and mPFC in decision-making and time estimation tasks. Moreover, their findings are not consistent, so the  relationship between temporal decision-making and those areas remains unclear. The present study employed bilateral inactivations to explore the role of AIC and prelimbic (PL) in rats during a temporal decision-making task. In this task, two levers are available simultaneously (but only one is active), one predicting reinforcement after a short, and the other after a long fixed interval. Optimal performance requires a switch from the short to the long lever after the short fixed interval elapsed and no reinforcement was delivered. The results of the Experiment I showed that switch behavior from the short to the long lever was dependent on AIC and PL. During AIC inactivation, switch latencies became more variable, while during PL inactivation switch latencies became both more variable and less accurate. The results of Experiment II showed that the animals are sensitive to the change in the probability of long trials, adjusting switch latencies in order to maximize the reinforcement. Inactivating the AIC increased switch latencies at low probability and increased the variability of latencies at low and high probability. These findings point to a dissociation between AIC and PL in temporal decision-making, suggesting that the AIC is important for temporal precision, and PL is important for both temporal accuracy and precision. This project contributes to the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the encoding of uncertainty as a function of time.

MEMBROS DA BANCA:
Presidente - Interno ao Programa - 1954058 - MARCELO SALVADOR CAETANO
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Interno ao Programa - 1872537 - MARCELA BERMUDEZ ECHEVERRY
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Interno ao Programa - 3015190 - RODRIGO PAVAO
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - FÁBIO CARDOSO CRUZ - UNIFESP
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - JOSÉ LINO OLIVEIRA BUENO - USP
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Interno ao Programa - 1893240 - RAQUEL VECCHIO FORNARI
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Interno ao Programa - 1955999 - ANDRE MASCIOLI CRAVO
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - KARINA POSSA ABRAHÃO - UNIFESP
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - GILBERTO FERNANDO XAVIER - USP