| dc.description.abstract | When an animal is conducting instrumental behavior (e.g., pressing a lever to earn food), responding can be guided by two different response strategies: goal-directed or habitual. Experimenters are able to determine an animal’s response strategy based on their sensitivity to outcome devaluation. Methods for assessing habitual behaviors with food rewards have been established, but there is no accepted method for assessing habitual cocaine seeking. Recently, my lab has developed a novel method that can be used to identify habitual responding for cocaine. Preliminary data and previous studies show that animals will maintain a stable level of cocaine responding and will adjust their pressing to account for changes in dosage; this is thought to similarly reflect food satiety when an animal has eaten enough. This study aimed to investigate the role of dopaminergic activity within the nucleus accumbens core (NAc core) which has been previously implicated in cocaine satiety. To determine if dopaminergic activity in NAc core is sufficient to drive cocaine satiety, we used a within subjects design in which rats underwent, in separate trials, both outcome devaluation via non-contingent cocaine infusions and an extinction session in which D1- and D2-type agonists were administered directly into the NAc core beforehand. We hypothesized that agonism of D1- and D2-type receptors in the NAc core is sufficient to drive cocaine satiety, reflected by a decrease in cocaine-seeking behavior. | en |
