The general and outcome-specific forms of Pavlovian-instrumental transfer are differentially mediated by the nucleus accumbens core and shell
Open accessAbstract
Tests of Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) demonstrate that reward-predictive stimuli can exert a powerful motivational influence on the performance of instrumental actions. Recent evidence suggests that predictive stimuli produce this effect through either the general arousal (general PIT) or the specific predictions (outcome-specific PIT) produced by their association with reward. In two experiments, we examined the effects of pretraining lesions (Experiment 1) or muscimol-induced inactivation (Experiment 2) of either the core or shell regions of the nucleus accumbens (NAC) on these forms of PIT. Rats received Pavlovian training in which three auditory stimuli each predicted the delivery of a distinct food outcome. Separately, the rats were trained to perform two instrumental actions, each of which earned one of the outcomes used in Pavlovian conditioning. Finally, the effects of the three stimuli on performance of the two actions were assessed in extinction. Here we report evidence of a double dissociation between general and outcome-specific PIT at the level of the accumbens. Shell lesions eliminated outcome-specific PIT but spared general PIT, whereas lesions of the core abolished general PIT but spared outcome-specific PIT. Importantly, the infusion of muscimol into core or shell made immediately before the PIT tests produced a similar pattern of results. These results suggest that whereas the NAC core mediates the general excitatory effects of reward-related cues, the NAC shell mediates the effect of outcome-specific reward predictions on instrumental performance, and thereby serve to clarify reported discrepancies regarding the role of the NAC core and shell in PIT.
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Cues that signal reward delivery independently of instrumental action can invigorate instrumental performance, a phenomenon termed Pavlovian-instrumental transfer.
“Cues that signal reward delivery independently of whether or not an instrumental action is performed can nevertheless invigorate instrumental performance, a phenomenon termed Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) [41,42].”
From Contributions of the striatum to learning, motivation, and performance: an associative account (2012) · cites this paper as [41]
Under certain training conditions, Pavlovian-instrumental transfer effects exhibit selectivity for an action that earns the same reward as signaled by the Pavlovian cue, suggesting outcome-specific representations.
“under certain training conditions, PIT effects exhibit a clear selectivity, such that instrumental responding is enhanced specifically for an action that earns the same reward as that signaled by the Pavlovian cue, suggesting the involvement of outcome-specific representations (i.e., specific PIT).”
From Contributions of the striatum to learning, motivation, and performance: an associative account (2012) · cites this paper as [41]
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“Lesion studies demonstrate that NAc core and shell support PIT (Corbit et al., 2001; Corbit and Balleine, 2011).”
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- Authors
- Corbit, L. H., & Balleine, B. W.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2011-08-17
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 33
- Pages
- 11786-11794
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC3208020
- OpenAlex
- W2132189191
- Cited by
- 309
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 11.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Public Health Service (56446)
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council (633267)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA018014)
- National Institute of Mental Health (56446, R01MH056446)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer, nucleus accumbens, nucleus accumbens core, nucleus accumbens shell, reward prediction, instrumental performance, muscimol inactivation, double dissociation, classical conditioning, extinction
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Animals, Conditioning, Classical, Extinction, Psychological, Feeding Behavior, Male, Motivation, Nucleus Accumbens, Rats, Long-Evans, Rats
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