PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zakaria Ouhaz
AU  - Brook A. L. Perry
AU  - Kouichi Nakamura
AU  - Anna S. Mitchell
TI  - Mediodorsal Thalamus Is Critical for Updating during Extradimensional Shifts But Not Reversals in the Attentional Set-Shifting Task
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0162-21.2022
DP  - 2022 Mar 01
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0162-21.2022
VI  - 9
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/9/2/ENEURO.0162-21.2022.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/9/2/ENEURO.0162-21.2022.full
SO  - eNeuro2022 Mar 01; 9
AB  - Cognitive flexibility, attributed to frontal cortex, is vital for navigating the complexities of everyday life. The mediodorsal thalamus (MD), interconnected to frontal cortex, may influence cognitive flexibility. Here, male rats performed an attentional set-shifting task measuring intradimensional (ID) and extradimensional (ED) shifts in sensory discriminations. MD lesion rats needed more trials to learn the rewarded sensory dimension. However, once the choice response strategy was established, learning further two-choice discriminations in the same sensory dimension, and reversals of the reward contingencies in the same dimension, were unimpaired. Critically though, MD lesion rats were impaired during the ED shift, when they must rapidly update the optimal choice response strategy. Behavioral analyses showed MD lesion rats had significantly reduced correct within-trial second choice responses. This evidence shows that transfer of information via the MD is critical when rapid within-trial updates in established choice response strategies are required after a rule change.