Fig. 1.

Task structure and experimental timeline. A) Rats choose between two levers (left or right). After pressing once, both levers retract and an auditory cue commences. If the rat chooses the “Info” alternative, on 20% of the trials, tone S+ plays for 60 s always ending with the delivery of one sugar pellet; the other 80% of the trials sound S− plays for 60 s always ending without food. If the rat chooses the “No Info” option, a third sound S3 plays for 60 s ending with the delivery of one sugar pellet in 50% of the trials. B) CNO or VEH was administered 10 min before starting the task. Each session consisted of 54 trials in which rats received 18 choice trials (both levers available to choose), 18 forced info trials (only the lever associated with the informative alternative was available), and 18 forced No Info trials (only the No Info lever was available). Animals were required to complete the session in 2 h. C) Rats were trained on the task over 15 sessions before they underwent bilateral viral infusion of inhibitory hM4Di mCherry DREADDs or null virus enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) in ACC, BLA, or OFC. After 2 weeks of recovery, baseline performance was reestablished for five sessions before administrating CNO and VEH (order counterbalanced) for three consecutive sessions with a wash-out day between drugs.