Coherent Neuron Activity in Frontal Cortex, n. Accumbens and Dorsomedial Striatum during Impulsive and Self-Control Behavior in Cats

Cats placed in the situation of a choosing between a high-value time-delayed and a low-value immediate food rewards elected to wait for the preferred reward or to obtain the worse reward quickly. On the basis of the selected behavior strategy the cats were classified into three groups— self-control ones, choosing predominantly a delayed high-value food reward, impulsive, choosing predominantly an immediate low-value food reward, and ambivalent—with mixed types of reactions. The correlated firing between simultaneously recorded neurons in prefrontal cortex (PFC), n. accumbens (NAcb) and dorsomedial striatum (DMStr) during choice behavior task was studied. It was revealed that a total number of NAcb functional neuron interactions at cats show self-control reactions exceeded that observed at ambivalent and impulsive cats. The number of PFC and DMStr functional correlated firing at impulsive and ambivalent cats was more significant than that at cats capable to self-control. Observed correlated firing between PFC and NAcb neurons (fronto-accumbal interactions) progressively increased with the shift of behavior to impulsiveness and decreased with self-control behavior. Our results demonstrate that performance of impulsive and self-control behavior alters the correlation structure of neural firing in PFC, NAcb, DMStr and suggest the key role of local PFC, NAcb, DMStr networks in realization of choice behavior.