Figure 1.

NAc core dopamine is required for cued FR1 tasks with long, but not short ITIs. A, B, An auditory cue signaling reward availability was presented after ITIs that were different for different groups of rats. A lever press was required during cue presentation to obtain liquid sucrose reward delivered in a nearby reward receptacle. The number of rewards earned was reduced by injection of dopamine D₁ (SCH23390 or D₂ (raclopride) antagonists into the NAc at the border between core and shell. This effect was more pronounced for the longer (10 and 20 s) ITIs (C) and when the injections were within the NAc core (F). D, G, The latency to press the lever after cue onset was increased by the antagonists, but only for the longer ITIs. E, H, The latency to enter the receptacle after the lever press was not affected by the antagonists at any dose, at any of the three injection sites. Except where noted otherwise, significance symbols apply to this and all subsequent figures: *significant difference from vehicle with Holm–Sidak post hoc test adjusted p < 0.05; ^†trend toward a significant difference from vehicle with Holm–Sidak post hoc test unadjusted p < 0.1. Error bars in all figures indicate SEM. Detailed statistical results for all figures are shown in Table 1.