The influence of inter-trial behaviour on decision making

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dc.contributor.authorRandolph, Sienna
dc.contributor.authorUniversity of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
dc.contributor.supervisorGruber, Aaron J.
dc.date.accessioned2018-11-07T18:01:06Z
dc.date.available2018-11-07T18:01:06Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.degree.levelMastersen_US
dc.description.abstractAnimals quickly learn to approach sources of food. Here, we characterize a form of behaviour in which rats made volitional orofacial contact with inactive feeders between trials of a self-paced operant task. This extraneous feeder sampling (EFS) was never reinforced and therefore imposed opportunity and effort costs. EFS decreased during initial training but persisted thereafter. The relative rate of EFS to operant responding increased with either novel changes to the operant chamber, or reward devaluation. We speculate this may function to increase exploration when the task is uncertain (early in learning or introduction of novel components), when the opportunity cost is low, or when the learned sensorimotor solution is compromised. Analysis of sex differences revealed females have a higher propensity for EFS, further supporting our speculations that EFS is rooted in exploratory systems. Preliminary results suggest the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in the expression of this behaviour.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipAlberta Gambling Research Instituteen_US
dc.embargoNoen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/5239
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.proquest.subject0317en_US
dc.proquest.subject0384en_US
dc.proquestyesYesen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta. : Universtiy of Lethbridge, Department of Neuroscienceen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Neuroscienceen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectDecision making in animals -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectRats as laboratory animalsen_US
dc.subjectCognitive neuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectNeuropsychologyen_US
dc.subjectCuriosity -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectInterest (Psychology) -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectUncertainty -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectReward (Psychology) -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectDissertations, Academicen_US
dc.subjectanterior cingulate cortexen_US
dc.subjectexploratory systemsen_US
dc.subjectextraneous feeder samplingen_US
dc.subjectflexible decision-makingen_US
dc.subjectsex differences in exploratory behaviouren_US
dc.subjecttask uncertaintyen_US
dc.titleThe influence of inter-trial behaviour on decision makingen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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