only on drinking trials or non-drinking trials (Fig. 2D, red and blue groups, respectively). Comparisons of drink-encoding neurons confirmed that non-drinking trial responsive neurons displayed lower responsiveness on drinking trials. The converse was also true; the subgroup of drinking trial responsive neurons displayed lower responsiveness on non-drinking trials (two-way ANOVA; F(2,679) = 38.03, p < 0.0001; Fig. 2D, inset). Interestingly, a greater number of responsive neurons were found when drinking status was taken into account compared to when it was ignored (225 vs 179; Fig. 2F), with no significant differences in the proportions of neuron response between P and Wistar rats on either alcohol (χ2 = 3.24; p = 0.20) or water sessions (χ2 = 2.34; p = 0.31; Fig. 2E). Thus, mPFC neurons were found that possessed the capacity to encode decisions and/or behaviors associated with drinking/non-drinking trials.
