Unraveling the Heterogeneity: Neural Correlates of Interindividual Variability in Sensory Cortex During Incentive-Associative Learning
Progetto Emotional memory shapes personal histories, crucial for survival. Sensory stimuli gain incentive or aversive value through emotional learning, associating with rewards or punishments. In appetitive learning, a neutral stimulus links to a pleasurable one, eliciting conditioned emotional responses even without the pleasurable stimulus, gaining incentive salience. The significance of incentive learning extends to drug addiction, where cues predictive of drug intake become linked with the rewarding properties of the drug itself, and trigger the recall of drug-related experiences upon exposure to these cues, potentially leading to craving and relapse.
Studies reveal substantial interindividual variability in incentive learning and drug abuse responses. Despite documented correlations, neurophysiological mechanisms underlying distinct personalities, incentive learning, and disease vulnerability are poorly understood.
Utilizing a comprehensive multi-methodological approach that integrates behavioral, brain network, and cellular analyses, the study aims to uncover the mechanisms that underlie individual variability in assigning incentive value to sensory stimuli. The focus will be on investigating how neurons and dopaminergic receptors in the higher-order auditory cortex contribute to this interindividual variability during the formation of incentive memories. Additionally, we will characterize the types of neurons and the phases of learning in which these mechanisms operate. Finally, we will explore whether a cortical-to-subcortical dialogue plays a role in generating behavioral interindividual variability during incentive associative processes.
To achieve these goals, we will combine behavioral analyses with in vivo optogenetic, chemogenetic, and pharmacological manipulations, and ex vivo molecular biology. The study aims to unveil neuronal mechanisms in interindividual variability during incentive learning, offering insights for clinical substance abuse treatment.