Opposing Effects of Acute Stress in a Rodent Model of Gambling Behaviour

Impulsive decision-making is characteristic of both pathological gambling and depression. It remains unclear why some individuals are prone to make risky decisions and develop gambling behaviours. Stress is known to increase the risk for addiction, depression, and disrupt optimal decision-making. The goal of this study is to explore the effects of stress-induced depressive behaviours on gambling-like decision-making in rodents. We hypothesized that stress will increase impulsive decision-making in rats. Rodents were exposed to acute stress using a stress paradigm known to induce depressive-like behaviours and the animal’s decision-making was assessed using a rodent model of gambling-like behaviour. As expected, we found that inescapable footshocks increased impulsive decision-making. Surprisingly, we found that escapable footshocks improved decision-making. Furthermore, high levels of baseline impulsivity in addition to inescapable footshocks increased impulsive decision-making. Our findings suggest that the observed effects of both types of shocks on decision-making could be modulated by baseline levels of impulsivity.M.Sc