a) After completing the Restaurant Row task, rats were
trained on the 4 × 20 variant. During each 20-minute sub-session one
restaurant dispensed 3 pellets and the other three restaurants dispensed 1
pellet. A different flavor restaurant became the 3-pellet restaurant for each of
the four daily sub-sessions (brown = chocolate, black = plain, yellow = banana,
pink = cherry). b-e) SWR rates were compared between the
over-trained Restaurant Row task and the novel 4 × 20 task. SWR rates
were higher after the maze run (Pre → Post). These off-maze (Pre/Post)
SWR rates increased on the 4 × 20 task from the Restaurant Row task for
both b) VEH and d) CNO days. d)
Disrupting the mPFC with CNO reduced SWR rates. Examining on-maze SWR rates
revealed the same increase on the 4 × 20 task on both c) VEH
and e) CNO days, but no overall effect of CNO. Boxplot center mark
depicts the median (red line), and top and bottom edges represent first and
third quartiles. Whiskers extend to extreme data points not considered outliers.
Diamonds = VEH days, circles = CNO days; Different colors represent different
rats * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.