Impairments in decision making under uncertainty, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), are observed in persons suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), in which seizures originate in the amygdala and hippocampal formations. Gambling disorder is also more prevalent in this population. Individuals with amygdala damage show similar deficits in decision-making, as do rats with lesions restricted to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) performing an analogous rat gambling task (rGT), yet whether hyperstimulation of the BLA impacts risky decision-making has yet to be demonstrated. We therefore investigated whether kindling of the BLA affected rGT performance. In this task, sugar pellet profits are maximised through consistent selection of options associated with smaller per-trial gains but shorter punishing time-outs. Just as in the IGT, subjects must avoid the risky options, as penalties are disproportionately high despite the higher reward available. Most rats adopt the optimal strategy, but some instead make high numbers of risky, disadvantageous choices. Once stable choice preferences had been established on-task, sixteen male Long Evans rats were implanted unilaterally with a bipolar electrode targeting the BLA and stimulated twice daily until three stage five seizures had been elicited. The electrodes revealed to be nearly evenly places in the BLA and the Central Nucleus of the Amygdala (CeA). Kindling transiently increased choice of the option paired with the smallest reward but also the lowest level of punishment- a risk-averse, but suboptimal, choice. Risk-preferring rats also made more premature responses, a marker of motor impulsivity, and were faster to make a choice, whereas these variables were unaffected in optimal decision-makers. These data suggest epileptiform activity originating within the amygdala can impair choice and promote impulsivity, at least in some individuals.

在患有颞叶癫痫 (TLE) 的人中观察到在不确定性下的决策受损，正如爱荷华赌博任务 (IGT) 所衡量的那样，其中癫痫发作起源于杏仁核和海马结构。赌博障碍在这一人群中也更为普遍。杏仁核受损的个体在决策方面表现出类似的缺陷，病变仅限于基底外侧杏仁核 (BLA) 的大鼠执行类似的大鼠赌博任务 (rGT)，但过度刺激 BLA 是否会影响风险决策尚待确定证明了。因此，我们调查了 BLA 的点燃是否会影响 rGT 性能。在此任务中，通过一致选择与较小的每次试验收益但较短的惩罚超时相关的选项来最大化糖丸利润。就像在 IGT 中一样，受试者必须避免冒险的选择，因为尽管可以获得更高的奖励，但惩罚却高得不成比例。大多数老鼠采用最佳策略，但有些老鼠却做出了大量危险的、不利的选择。一旦在任务中建立了稳定的选择偏好，16 只雄性 Long Evans 大鼠就被单侧植入了一个针对 BLA 的双极电极，每天刺激两次，直到引起三个阶段的第五次癫痫发作。电极显示几乎均匀地分布在 BLA 和杏仁核 (CeA) 的中央核中。点燃短暂地增加了选项的选择，同时伴随着最小的奖励和最低程度的惩罚——一种规避风险但次优的选择。偏好风险的老鼠也会做出更多的过早反应，这是运动冲动的标志，并且做出选择的速度更快，而这些变量在最佳决策者中不受影响。这些数据表明，起源于杏仁核的癫痫样活动会损害选择并促进冲动，至少在某些个体中是这样。