The amygdala and the temporal expectancy of a reinforcer, by Valérie Doyère

The amygdala and the temporal expectancy of a reinforcer.

Abstract
When a sound predicts the potential arrival of a reinforcer, the subject learns the time at which that reinforcer may arrive or is available. The amygdala, and in particular its basolateral (BLA) part is critical for the emotional/motivational aspect of learning. On the other hand, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) form a network involved in interval timing and behavior. Because of its direct efferences to both the mPFC) and the DMS, BLA is in an ideal position to influence the mPFC-DMS network. I will present a series of experiments in rats to highlight the role of BLA in modulating/controlling the expectancy of a reinforcer, in particular in its temporal aspect.

Short CV
Dr. Valérie Doyère is CNRS director of research at the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, where she leads the team Memory, Emotion & Time, and is the head of the Cognitive & Network Neuroscience Department. She obtained her doctoral degree in Neuroscience from Paris VI University, dedicated to the understanding of the role of synaptic plasticity in associative learning and its maintenance in long-term memory in rodents, followed by a post-doctoral work on long-term depression in the hippocampus in vivo. She became a tenured researcher of the CNRS in 1993, spent several years (1999-2002) at New York University (USA) as a visiting scholar, where she uncovered the highly selective mechanisms of fear memory reconsolidation in the amygdala. She demonstrated the critical role of time in this process, and headed an International Associated Lab on Emotion & Time with the NYU lab from 2009 to 2016. She became since 2016 Adjunct Associate Professor, at NYU School of Medicine (USA). Her research combines electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, pharmacology and behavior techniques in freely moving rats.

Some recent publications
– Diaz-Mataix L, Ruiz Martinez RC, Schafe GE, LeDoux JE & Doyère V (2013) Detection of temporal error triggers reconsolidation of amygdala-dependent memories. Current Biology, 23(6), 467-472.
– Dallérac G*, Graupner M*, Knippenberg J, Ruiz Martinez RCR, Ferreira Tavares T, Tallot L, El Massioui N, Verschueren A, Höhn S, Boulanger-Bertolus J, Reyes A, LeDoux JE, Schafe GE, Diaz-Mataix L & – Doyère V (2017) Updating temporal expectancy of an aversive event engages striatal plasticity under amygdala control. Nature Communications, 8, 13920.
– Tallot L, Graupner M, Diaz-Mataix L & Doyère V (2020) Beyond freezing: Temporal expectancy of an aversive event engages the amygdalo-prefronto-dorsostriatal network. Cerebral Cortex, 30(10):5257-5269.
– Tallot L & Doyère V (2020) – Neural encoding of time in the animal brain. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews. 115:146-163.
– Joly F, Jeckel P, Griebel M, Raut S, El Massioui N, Vaillend C, Johnson L, Volkmer H & Doyère V (2022) Disruption of amygdala Tsc2 in adolescence leads to changed prelimbic cellular activity and generalized fear responses at adulthood in rats. Cerebral Cortex. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab506.