Rodent Versions of the Iowa Gambling Task: Opportunities and Challenges for the Understanding of Decision-making

Overview

Journal Front Neurosci

Date 2011 Oct 21

PMID 22013406

Citations 54

Authors

Leonie de Visser

Judith R Homberg

Manuela Mitsogiannis

Fiona D Zeeb

Marion Rivalan

Aurelie Fitoussi

Vasco Galhardo

Ruud van den Bos

Catherine A Winstanley

Francoise Dellu-Hagedorn

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Impaired decision-making is a core problem in several psychiatric disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, mania, drug addiction, eating disorders, and substance abuse as well as in chronic pain. To ensure progress in the understanding of the neuropathophysiology of these disorders, animal models with good construct and predictive validity are indispensable. Many human studies aimed at measuring decision-making capacities use the Iowa gambling task (IGT), a task designed to model everyday life choices through a conflict between immediate gratification and long-term outcomes. Recently, new rodent models based on the same principle have been developed to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying IGT-like decision-making on behavioral, neural, and pharmacological levels. The comparative strengths, as well as the similarities and differences between these paradigms are discussed. The contribution of these models to elucidate the neurobehavioral factors that lead to poor decision-making and to the development of better treatments for psychiatric illness is considered, along with important future directions and potential limitations.

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