Differences in the prevalence and presentation of psychiatric illnesses in men and women suggest that neurobiological sex differences confer vulnerability or resilience in these disorders. Rodent behavioral models are critical for understanding the mechanisms of these differences. Reward processing and punishment avoidance are fundamental dimensions of the symptoms of psychiatric disorders. Here we explored sex differences along these dimensions using multiple and distinct behavioral paradigms. We found no sex difference in reward-guided associative learning but a faster punishment-avoidance learning in females. After learning, females were more sensitive than males to probabilistic punishment but less sensitive when punishment could be avoided with certainty. No sex differences were found in reward-guided cognitive flexibility. Thus, sex differences in goal-directed behaviors emerged selectively when there was an aversive context. These differences were critically sensitive to whether the punishment was certain or unpredictable. Our findings with these new paradigms provide conceptual and practical tools for investigating brain mechanisms that account for sex differences in susceptibility to anxiety and impulsivity. They may also provide insight for understanding the evolution of sex-specific optimal behavioral strategies in dynamic environments.

中文翻译：

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奖励和惩罚指导行动中的性别差异。

男女精神疾病患病率和表现形式的差异表明，神经生物学性别差异赋予这些疾病以脆弱性或韧性。啮齿动物的行为模型对于理解这些差异的机制至关重要。奖励处理和避免惩罚是精神障碍症状的基本方面。在这里，我们使用多种不同的行为范式探索了这些维度上的性别差异。我们发现在奖励指导的联想学习中没有性别差异，但是在女性中更快的规避惩罚学习。学习后，女性对概率惩罚的敏感性比男性高，但在可以肯定地避免惩罚的敏感性较低。在奖励指导的认知灵活性中未发现性别差异。从而，在有厌恶情境的情况下，目标导向行为中的性别差异会选择性出现。这些差异对惩罚是确定的还是不可预测的极为敏感。我们对这些新范例的发现为研究大脑机制的概念和实用工具提供了依据，这些机制解释了对焦虑和冲动的敏感性中的性别差异。它们还可以提供洞察力，以了解动态环境中特定于性别的最佳行为策略的演变。我们对这些新范例的发现为研究大脑机制的概念和实用工具提供了依据，这些机制解释了对焦虑和冲动的敏感性中的性别差异。它们还可以提供洞察力，以了解动态环境中特定于性别的最佳行为策略的演变。我们对这些新范例的发现为研究大脑机制的概念和实用工具提供了依据，这些机制解释了对焦虑和冲动的敏感性中的性别差异。它们还可以提供洞察力，以了解动态环境中特定于性别的最佳行为策略的演变。