{
  "abstract": "When Pavlovian lever cues predict reward, rats diverge in how they express learned associations: sign-tracking (ST) rats approach and engage the cue with greater persistence, while goal-tracking (GT) rats approach the reward site and are more consistently outcome-sensitive. The anterior insular cortex (aIC) and its interactions with amygdala and striatal regions are differentially recruited across phenotypes, implicating aIC as a node where associative strategy diverges at the circuit level. To characterize this neural divergence independent of differences in conditioned responding, we recorded single-unit aIC activity in ST and GT rats performing an odor-guided sucrose discrimination task with equivalent approach behavior. At the population level, GT aIC was dominated by task-excited neurons that drove sucrose discrimination, while ST aIC carried a greater proportion of task-inhibited neurons whose suppression carried the dominant discrimination signal, a dissociation specific to the reward epoch. During cue sampling, the balance of excited and inhibited neurons did not differ between phenotypes, but temporal structure diverged: ST cue-excited neurons showed transient CS-onset responses without sustained discrimination, while GT cue-excited neurons maintained sustained CS+/CS- discrimination into the reward epoch. ST cue-period firing predicted post-cue approach latency, with stronger responses associated with slower goal approach, a relationship absent in GT. The majority of optogenetically identified aIC projection neurons targeting basolateral amygdala and nucleus accumbens were cue-inhibited. These findings reveal that individual differences in associative strategy are encoded in the organizational structure of aIC population activity, positioning aIC as a site where motivational strategy is translated into distinct outputs.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Maryland SOM, Baltimore"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "S. E. Keefer"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. A. Martin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "D. J. Calu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e0zvzf3ftn6ef.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.15.759424",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759424v1.full",
  "id": "e0zvzf3ftn6ef",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759424v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Memory and Neural Mechanisms"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223146162",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759424v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-15",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e0zvzf3ftn6ef.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:28:51Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.15.759424",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759424v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Opposing reward-epoch population coding in anterior insular cortex dissociates sign- and goal-tracking despite equivalent conditioned responding",
  "title_text": "Opposing reward-epoch population coding in anterior insular cortex dissociates sign- and goal-tracking despite equivalent conditioned responding",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:28:51Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e0zvzf3ftn6ef",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}