Rats on a gambling task tell us something about decision making in schizophrenia

A new publication by Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Tracie Paine:

Paine TA, O'Hara A, Plaut B, Lowes DC. 2015. Effects of disrupting medial prefrontal cortex GABA transmission on decision-making in a rodent gambling task. Psychopharmacology (Berl ) 232(10):1755-65

Partial abstract:  "Decision-making is a complex cognitive process that is mediated, in part, by subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC). Decision-making is impaired in a number of psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia. Notably, people with schizophrenia exhibit reductions in GABA function in the same PFC areas that are implicated in decision-making… [The data collected in this experimental study of rat cognitive function] provide proof-of-concept evidence that disruptions in GABA transmission can contribute to the decision-making deficits in schizophrenia."
Full text at OhioLINK EJC or SpringerLink.