Investigating the Learning Potential of Tsc1 Mice through an Evidence-Accumulation Task

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that has significant impact on society as the prevalence rate of the disorder drastically increases with every year. Individuals who are affected by this disorder often display similar symptoms, typically encompassing difficulties with socialization and communication, atypical responses to stimuli, motor disabilities, and learning disabilities. The cerebellum plays an important role in cognition, perception, and motor learning, and recent studies have identified it as an important region in the development of autism. As people with autism tend to have learning disabilities, this study aims to investigate learning potential in a mouse model of autism. Specifically, we use cerebellar-specific autism model mice, Tsc1 (Tubular Sclerosis Complex) heterozygous and homozygous mutant mice, to investigate how they learn a decision-making evidence-accumulation task and relearn the task after a break in time. Strikingly, it was found that heterozygous, and particularly, homozygous mutant mice exhibited accelerated learning during initial training and retraining compared to the wildtype mice. Furthermore, the two mutants exhibited the savings effect, the idea that faster learning speeds should be observed the second time information is presented compared to the initial time, and wildtypes did not. Possible explanations for the faster learning of heterozygous and homozygous mutants include increased sensitivity to air puff stimuli due to their cerebellar disruptions or altered working memory that eliminates their biases from previous trials and sessions. While further tests must be conducted, this work provides information about the learning potential of Tsc1 mice and ultimately contributes to furthering our understanding of Tsc1 autism model mice.