Merfeld, Madison2024-01-052024-01-052023https://hdl.handle.net/11299/259566University of Minnesota M.S. thesis.--- 2023. Major: Neuroscience. Advisor: Nicola Grissom. 1 computer file (PDF); iv, 13 pages.Compared with girls and women, boys and men have a higher rate of diagnosis and/or a greater level of impairment associated with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We know little about how sex mechanisms influence the impact of diagnosis-associated gene variants; one gene variant strongly associated with neurodevelopmental disorders is 16p11.2 hemideletion. Boys with 16p11.2 hemideletion have been repeatedly found to have more neurodevelopmental diagnoses than girls. The 16p11.2 region is highly syntenic across mammals, and mouse models of 16p11.2 hemideletion (abbreviated as 16p del) also show sex-biased impacts on flexible action selection. In a restless two-armed bandit decision making, I found that 16p del mice have sex-biased behavioral changes in the domain of flexible action selection.en16p11.2 hemideletionautismdecision makingsex differencesThesis or Dissertation