Figure 6.

Effects of exogenous corticosterone (CORT) administration (1 and 3 mg/kg) on effort-based decision-making. (a) Choice behavior following the administration of either dose of CORT was comparable to choice after vehicle injection. (b) Similarly, response latencies were not affected by exogenous CORT relative to vehicle treatment. (c) Mean±SEM plasma CORT concentrations taken at baseline, and 30, 60, and 90 min after 1 h restraint and s.c. injections of vehicle, 1 and 3 mg/kg CORT. Stars denote significant difference vs restraint at p<0.05. (d) Integrated (area under curve/time) plasma hormone responses to 1 and 3 mg/kg CORT injections over the entire 90-min period, compared with values obtained from retrained rats subjected to restraint rats taken from baseline 60 min (white bar) and baseline 90 min (hatched bar). Injections of either dose of CORT resulted in higher integrated plasma levels over 90 min (stars denote p<0.05) compared with those observed following 1 h of restraint.