PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jahn, Caroline
AU  - Gilardeau, Sophie
AU  - Varazzani, Chiara
AU  - Blain, Bastien
AU  - Sallet, Jerome
AU  - Walton, Mark
AU  - Bouret, Sebastien
TI  - Independent contributions of noradrenaline to behavioural flexibility and motivation
AID  - 10.1101/147512
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 147512
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/08/147512.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/08/147512.full
AB  - Among neuromodulatory systems, the noradrenergic system remains one of the least understood. Several theories have pointed out its implication in behavioural flexibility and more recently in motivation, with a strong role in effort processing. Here, we designed a sequential cost/benefit decision task to test the causal role of noradrenaline in these two functions. We manipulated noradrenaline using clonidine, an alpha-2 noradrenergic receptor agonist, which reduces central noradrenaline levels. Clonidine had two distinct effects: it decreased choice volatility (without affecting the cost/benefit trade off) and reduced force production. Because the effects were independent, they cannot be accounted for by a non-specific effect on arousal. Altogether, these results support the global implication of noradrenaline in facing challenging situations in two complementary ways: by modulating behavioural volatility, which would facilitate adaptation depending on the lability of the environment, and by modulating the mobilization of resources to face immediate challenges.