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Comb wax mediates the acquisition of nest-mate recognition cues in honey bees.

Honey bees, Apis mellifera, acquire nest-mate recognition cues from wax, the predominant material used in nest construction. Exposure of a newly emerged worker bee to wax-comb substrate significantly reduced the acceptability of that worker to sister bees. Cues acquired from the comb provided colony-specific information about the identity of worker bees; moreover, the effect of comb exposure has been previously shown to override individually produced cues. Food odors (anise oil), when dissolved in paraffin wax, affected worker-recognition characteristics but food odors did not affect these characteristics when fed to bees in sugar candy. Paraffin wax alone did not affect the recognition cues of bees, showing that the wax can be a neutral medium for the transmission of cues. The wax comb in the colony and the hydrocarbon outer layer of the bee cuticle may be a continuous medium for any hydrocarbon-soluble substances used by honey bees in nest-mate recognition; if so, a mechanism by which environmental cues are acquired by honey bees is provided.

Journal Article↗

Extinguishing the rewarding value of smoke cues: pharmacological and behavioral treatments.

The present study examined several pharmacological and behavioral treatments designed to promote extinction of the responses to rewarding cigarette smoke cues. Pharmacological treatments comprised nicotine skin patches (21 mg/24 hr) and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist mecamylamine (10 mg/day), administered separately or in combination. Behavioral manipulations included switching to denicotinized cigarettes, to cigarettes having different menthol flavor, or to ventilated-filter (low tar and nicotine) cigarettes. Smokers were assigned to the various treatments for 2 weeks before they quit smoking. During weekly test sessions, subjects rated the rewarding effects of their usual brands of cigarettes or cigarettes with different menthol content (mentholated vs. nonmentholated). Over the 2-week treatment period, all pharmacological treatments reduced ratings of reward for the usual-brand test cigarettes. Switching to smoking denicotinized cigarettes for 2 weeks similarly decreased rewarding effects of the usual-brand test cigarettes. Subjects also strongly preferred cigarettes with the same menthol content to which they were accustomed. However, manipulating the menthol content of the cigarettes smoked during the 2 weeks of treatment had different effects, depending on whether smokers habitually smoked mentholated or nonmentholated cigarettes. For menthol smokers, removal of the menthol cue hampered extinction of reward ratings for the usual-brand (mentholated) test cigarette. For nonmenthol smokers, addition of the menthol cue did not affect the progress of extinction of nonmenthol smoke cues. These findings demonstrate the importance of sensory cues in determining subjective reward and show that the reward value of these cues can be altered by removal of nicotine from tobacco or by pharmacological manipulations that interfere with the reinforcing effects of nicotine.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

Do you remember what you imagined you would do in that place? The motor encoding cue-failure effect in sighted and blind people.

Three experiments examine why the recall of performed actions often fails to profit from provision of retrieval context. A cue failure has, for instance, been demonstrated with cued recall for performed actions in that cued recall is lower than free recall, whereas control conditions show the usual free to cued recall increase for non-enacted material. The first experiment confirms the cue-failure effect and extends the generality of the finding to everyday cue contexts (where the cues are represented by images of the locations associated to the actions), which intuitively should be of general retrieval help. The second experiment shows that the cue-failure effect is also present, even to a greater extent, in congenitally totally blind people; the third experiment suggests how the cue-failure effect may be defeated by means of simultaneous motor and non-motor encoding. The results are discussed in terms of strategic and non-strategic conceptions of action memory and of the independence of motor and visuospatial codes. This independence appears maintained also in the blind.

Adolescent↗

Lacustrine sockeye salmon return straight to their natal area from open water using both visual and olfactory cues.

Mechanisms of the amazing ability of salmon to migrate a long distance from open water to natal streams for spawning are still unknown. Lacustrine sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Lake Toya offers an excellent model system for studying the orientation mechanism in open water, because mature fish return to the natal area with a high degree of accuracy. First we examined the percentage of fish returning to the natal area after they were released 7 km south of the natal area. Forty percent of control male mature fish and 25% of the fish blinded by injection of a mixture of carbon toner and corn oil into the eyeball were captured in the natal area within 5 days. Forty-four percent of fish with brass rings (control) and 31% of fish with NdFe magnetic rings which interfere with the magnetic cue were captured in the natal area within 3 days. These experiments suggested that, although the number of blinded fish captured in the natal area was less than that of the controls, the difference was not statistically significant. In the fish captured in the natal area within 3 or 5 days, fish which found the natal area using their olfactory cue after random swimming for a long time and returned to that area may be included. Hence we tracked fish telemetrically using an ultrasonic tracking system, and found that mature males released at a long distance (3.6 or 6.8 km) from the natal area swam straight to the vicinity of the natal area. Interference of the magnetic cue by the attachment of a magnetic ring did not affect their direct return. Blockage of the visual cue caused them to move randomly. These data suggest that lacustrine sockeye salmon return straight to the vicinity of the natal area using their visual cue and finally reach the exact homing point using their olfactory cue.

Animals↗

A closer look at cueing effects in multiple-choice questions.

This study investigates the cueing effect occurring in multiple choice questions. Two parallel tests with matching contents were administered. By means of a computer program, examinees of different training levels and professional expertise were presented the same set of 35 cases (derived from patient problems in general practice) twice. The first time the cases were linked to open-ended questions; the second time they were linked to multiple choice questions. The examinees consisted of 75 medical students from three different years of training, 25 residents in training for general practice and 25 experienced general practitioners. Across groups, total test scores reflected a difference in mean scores on both formats, and a high inter-test correlation. Within each level of expertise, differences in mean scores and high correlations were also found. The data were further explored per group of examinees. Two types of cueing effects were found: positive cueing (examinees were cued towards the correct answer) and negative cueing (examinees were cued towards an incorrect answer). These effects were found at all levels of expertise and in almost all items. However, both effects decline with increasing level of expertise. Positive cueing mainly occurs in difficult items, whereas negative cueing mainly occurs in easy items.

Adult↗

Modulation rate discrimination for unresolved components: temporal cues related to fine structure and envelope.

The present study investigated the hypothesis that the cues for modulation rate discrimination for unresolved spectral components differ as a function of the spectral region occupied by the stimuli. Specifically, it was hypothesized that when components occupy relatively low spectral regions, phase locking both to the fine structure and to the envelope are useful cues. However, as the spectral region occupied by the components increases, phase locking to the fine structure becomes less robust, whereas phase locking to the envelope remains as a potentially strong cue. Observers were asked to detect a decrease in modulation rate for carrier frequencies between 1500 and 6000 Hz. Both amplitude-modulated (AM) and quasifrequency-modulated (QFM) tones were used in order to produce stimuli having strong and weak envelope cues, respectively. Although there were marked individual differences, the results showed an interaction between modulation type and spectral region, with AM and QFM performance being relatively similar at low spectral region, but with QFM showing a steeper reduction in performance as the spectral region of the carrier frequency increased. Overall, the data are consistent with an interpretation that pitch perception for unresolved components depends upon both fine structure and envelope cues, and that the relative importance of these cues depends upon the spectral region occupied by the stimuli.

Adult↗

Phonetic training with acoustic cue manipulations: a comparison of methods for teaching English /r/-/l/ to Japanese adults.

Recent work [Iverson et al. (2003) Cognition, 87, B47-57] has suggested that Japanese adults have difficulty learning English /r/ and /l/ because they are overly sensitive to acoustic cues that are not reliable for /r/-/l/ categorization (e.g., F2 frequency). This study investigated whether cue weightings are altered by auditory training, and compared the effectiveness of different training techniques. Separate groups of subjects received High Variability Phonetic Training (natural words from multiple talkers), and 3 techniques in which the natural recordings were altered via signal processing (All Enhancement, with F3 contrast maximized and closure duration lengthened; Perceptual Fading, with F3 enhancement reduced during training; and Secondary Cue Variability, with variation in F2 and durations increased during training). The results demonstrated that all of the training techniques improved /r/-/l/ identification by Japanese listeners, but there were no differences between the techniques. Training also altered the use of secondary acoustic cues; listeners became biased to identify stimuli as English /l/ when the cues made them similar to the Japanese /r/ category, and reduced their use of secondary acoustic cues for stimuli that were dissimilar to Japanese /r/. The results suggest that both category assimilation and perceptual interference affect English /r/ and /l/ acquisition.

Adolescent↗

Contralateral and ipsilateral cueing in forward masking.

Threshold was measured for a 20-ms, 1-kHz sinusoidal signal following a narrow-band noise masker centered at 1 kHz with an overall level of 70 dB SPL. The effect of temporal uncertainty was investigated by providing a broadband, low-level noise cue, gated synchronously either with the masker intervals or the signal intervals. The cue could be either in the same ear as the signal-plus-masker, or in the opposite ear. In every case the cue produced a reduction in signal threshold, the largest reduction (about 20 dB) occurring when the cue was gated with the masker. The results indicate that in specific conditions, when the signal is similar in quality to the masker (having a similar center frequency and bandwidth), forward masking can involve a high degree os temporal uncertainty. Effects resembling "suppression" can be produced by providing a temporal cue. Adding a 1.2-kHz sinusoid at 90 dB SPL to the masker produced a 10-dB larger reduction in threshold than the noise cue. This greater effect is probably attributable to suppression of the masker by the sinusoid.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Evaluation of various sets of acoustic cues for the perception of prevocalic stop consonants. II. Modeling and evaluation.

The purpose of the study presented in this paper and the accompanying paper [Smits et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 3852-3864 (1996)] is to evaluate whether detailed or gross time-frequency structures are more relevant for the perception of prevocalic stop consonants. To this end, first a perception experiment was carried out with "burst-spliced" stop-vowel utterances. This experiment is described in the accompanying paper. The present paper describes the second part of the investigation, i.e., the simulation of the behavior of the listeners in the perception experiment. First, a number of detailed and gross cues are measured on the stimuli. Next, these cues are mapped onto the observed perceptual data using a formal model of human classification behavior. The results show that in all cases the detailed cues, such as formant transitions, give a better account of the perceptual data than the gross cues, such as the global spectral tilt and its initial change. The best-performing models are interpreted in terms of the acoustic boundaries which are associated with the perceived linguistic contrast. These boundaries are highly interpretable linear functions of five or six acoustic cues, which give a quantitative description of the often-discussed "trade-off" relation between the various cues for perception of place of articulation in stop consonants.

Humans↗

Roll rotation cues influence roll tilt perception assayed using a somatosensory technique.

We investigated how the nervous system processes ambiguous cues from the otolith organs by measuring roll tilt perception elicited by two motion paradigms. In one paradigm (tilt), eight subjects were sinusoidally tilted in roll with the axis of rotation near ear level. Stimulus frequencies ranged from 0.005 to 0.7 Hz, and the peak amplitude of tilt was 20 degrees . During this paradigm, subjects experienced a sinusoidal variation of interaural gravitational force with a peak of 0.34 g. The second motion paradigm (translation) was designed to yield the same sinusoidal variation in interaural force but did not include a roll canal cue. This was achieved by sinusoidally translating the subjects along their interaural axis. For the 0.7-Hz translation trial, the subjects were simply translated from side to side. A centrifuge was used for the 0.005- to 0.5-Hz translation trials; the subjects were rotated in yaw at 250 degrees /s for 5 min before initiating sinusoidal translations yielding an interaural otolith stimulus composed of both centrifugal and radial acceleration. Using a somatosensory task to measure roll tilt perception, we found substantial differences in tilt perception during the two motion paradigms. Because the primary difference between the two motion paradigms was the presence of roll canal cues during roll tilt trials, these perceptual differences suggest that canal cues influence tilt perception. Specifically, rotational cues provided by the semicircular canals help the CNS resolve ambiguous otolith cues during head tilt, yielding more accurate tilt perception.

Adult↗

Altered spectral localization cues disrupt the development of the auditory space map in the superior colliculus of the ferret.

Spectral localization cues provided by the outer ear are utilized in the construction of the auditory space map in the superior colliculus (SC). The role of the outer ear in the development of this map was examined by recording from the SC of anesthetized, adult ferrets in which the pinna and concha had been removed in infancy. The acoustical consequences of this procedure were assessed by recording outer ear impulse responses via a probe-tube microphone implanted in the wall of the ear canal. Both monaural and binaural spectral cues normally show a number of asymmetric features within the horizontal plane, which allow azimuthal locations on either side of the interaural axis to be discriminated. These features were eliminated or altered by chronic pinnectomy. The responses of auditory units in the SC to noise bursts presented in the free field were examined at sound levels of approximately 10 and 25 dB above unit threshold. After bilateral pinnectomy, the representation of auditory space was severely degraded at both sound levels. In contrast to normal ferrets, many units had bilobed azimuthal response profiles, indicating that they were unable to resolve sound locations on either side of the interaural axis. There was also much less order in the distribution of best azimuths or elevations of those units that were tuned to a single direction. Some units were tuned to locations that extended much further into the hemifield ipsilateral to the recording side than the normal range of best azimuths. Unilateral removal of the outer ear, which disrupts the monaural spectral cues for one side only, had a much smaller effect on the development of the auditory representation. At supra- and near-threshold sound levels, the representation of sound azimuth in the SC on both sides of the brain was less scattered than that found after bilateral pinna removal. Nevertheless, units with bilobed responses, broader tuning, and inappropriate best azimuths were observed in both the left and right SC of ferrets in which the left pinna and concha had been removed in infancy. These data illustrate that the localization cues provided by the outer ear play a critical role in the development of the auditory space map in the SC. In contrast to other manipulations of either auditory or visual inputs, the map does not appear to adapt to the changes in spectral cues brought about by pinna removal, suggesting that residual binaural cues are, by themselves, insufficient for its normal maturation.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Sensory axons are guided by local cues in the developing dorsal spinal cord.

During development, different classes of sensory neurons establish distinctive central projections within the spinal cord. Muscle spindle afferents (Ia fibers) grow ventrally through the dorsal horn to the ventral cord, whereas cutaneous sensory collaterals remain confined to the dorsal horn. We have studied the nature of the cues used by Ia fibers in establishing their characteristic projections within the dorsal horn. An organotypic culture preparation of embryonic chicken spinal cord and sensory ganglia was used to test the influence of ventral spinal cord and local cues within the dorsal spinal cord on the growing Ia afferents. When the ventral half of the spinal cord was replaced with an inverted duplicate dorsal half, Ia fibers entering through the dorsal columns still grew ventrally within the host dorsal horn. After the fibers entered the duplicate dorsal half, they continued growing in the same direction. With respect to the duplicate dorsal tissue, this was in an opposite, ventral-to-dorsal, direction. In both cases, however, Ia collaterals remained confined to the medial dorsal laminae. Restriction to these laminae was maintained even when the fibers had to change their direction of growth to stay within them. These results show that cues from the ventral cord are not required for the development of correct Ia projections within the dorsal horn. Local, rather than long-range directional, cues appear to determine the pattern of these projections. When the ventral half of the spinal cord was left intact but sensory axons were forced to enter the dorsal gray matter growing rostrally or caudally, their collateral axons grew in random directions, further showing the absence of directional cues even when the ventral cord was present. Taken together, these observations suggest that Ia fibers are guided by local positional cues that keep them confined to the medial gray matter within the dorsal horn, but their direction of growth is determined primarily by their orientation and position as they enter the dorsal gray matter.

Afferent Pathways↗

SDQR migrations in Caenorhabditis elegans are controlled by multiple guidance cues and changing responses to netrin UNC-6.

The netrin guidance cue, UNC-6, and the netrin receptors, UNC-5 and UNC-40, guide SDQR cell and axon migrations in C. elegans. In wild-type larvae, SDQR migrations are away from ventral UNC-6-expressing cells, suggesting that UNC-6 repels SDQR. In unc-6 null larvae, SDQR migrations are towards the ventral midline, indicating a response to other guidance cues that directs the migrations ventrally. Although ectopic UNC-6 expression dorsal to the SDQR cell body would be predicted to cause ventral SDQR migrations in unc-6 null larvae, in fact, more migrations are directed dorsally, suggesting that SDQR is not always repelled from the dorsal source of UNC-6. UNC-5 is required for dorsal SDQR migrations, but not for the ventral migrations in unc-6 null larvae. UNC-40 appears to moderate both the response to UNC-6 and to the other cues. Our results show that SDQR responds to multiple guidance cues and they suggest that, besides UNC-6, other factors influence whether an UNC-6 responsive cell migrates toward or away from an UNC-6 source in vivo. We propose that multiple signals elicited by the guidance cues are integrated and interpreted by SDQR and that the response to UNC-6 can change depending on the combination of cues encountered during migration. These responses determine the final dorsoventral position of the SDQR cell and axon.

Animals↗

Methyl eugenol and cue-lure traps for suppression of male oriental fruit flies and melon flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii: effects of lure mixtures and weathering.

Methyl eugenol (4-allyl-1,2-dimethoxybenzene-carboxylate) and cue-lure [4-(p-acetoxyphenyl)-2-butanone] are highly attractive kairomone lures to oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and melon fly, B. cucurbitae (Coquillett), respectively. Plastic bucket traps were evaluated as dispensers for methyl eugenol and cue-lure for suppression of the 2 fruit flies in Hawaii. Methyl eugenol and cue-lure mixtures were compared with pure methyl eugenol or cue-lure over 4 seasons. B. dorsalis captures differed significantly with treatment and season. B. dorsalis captures with 100% methyl-eugenol were significantly greater than all other treatments (25, 50, and 75%). B. cucurbitae captures also differed significantly with treatment but not with season. Captures with 100, 75, and 50% cue-lure were not significantly different. Bucket traps baited with cue-lure (+ malathion) and weathered under Hawaiian climatic conditions were attractive to B. cucurbitae up to 8 wk. Two methyl eugenol dispensers (canec disks and Min-U-Gel) were compared with bucket traps. Dispensers (methyl eugenol + malathion) were weathered for 2-16 wk under Hawaiian climatic conditions and bioassayed during summer and winter. Initially, captures of B. dorsalis were not significantly different for the 3 dispensers. Bucket traps and canec disks were most resistant to weather, remaining attractive to B. dorsalis flies up to 16 wk. Min-U-Gel was least resistant, losing attractiveness to B. dorsalis flies within 2 wk. On the basis of performance, bucket traps and canec disks were equally long-lived up to 14 wk; thereafter, bucket traps were slightly more attractive during winter. Canec disks were cheapest, but on the basis of possible environmental concerns, bucket traps may be the best all-around choice for areawide suppression of fruit flies.

Animals↗

Interactions between coincident and orthogonal cues to texture boundaries.

Arrays with horizontal or vertical texture boundaries formed by element orientation and length cues were displayed, and the texture boundary formed by one cue was specified as the target. The boundaries formed by the two cues were coincident on some trials and orthogonal on others. Observers' accuracy in reporting the orientation of the target boundary was improved by a coincident nontarget boundary and was worsened by an orthogonal one. Conditional mutual information measures are used to show how effects due to contextual modulation can be distinguished from effects due to additive combination of the cues. The results of five experiments are interpreted as evidence that the transmission of information about specific texture boundary cues is modulated by task context but not by a coincident or orthogonal boundary in another cue. We therefore distinguish between the effects of "context," as shown by the effects of any variable not called the target, and "modulatory contextual effects," as shown by the effects of one variable on the transmission of information specifically about another.

Adult↗

Effect of tryptophan depletion on alcohol cue-induced craving in abstinent alcoholic patients.

BACKGROUND: The capacity of alcohol cues to precipitate the desire to drink may be an important determinant of relapse to alcohol use in recovering alcohol-dependent patients. This study evaluated whether attenuation of serotonin synthesis via depletion of its precursor tryptophan reduces the magnitude of cue-induced craving for alcohol in recently abstinent alcoholic individuals. METHODS: Alcohol-dependent patients (n = 16), 1 to 3 months after detoxification, who exhibited a 20% or greater increase in reported craving when presented with an alcoholic beverage, completed two additional alcohol cue-exposure test days, 1 week apart. Each cue exposure was preceded by administration of a concentrated amino acid drink that resulted in a rapid and significant decline in plasma free tryptophan (active depletion, no tryptophan supplementation) or a similar drink containing tryptophan (placebo depletion). Tests were conducted in a randomized, double-blind fashion. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in the magnitude of cue-induced craving with active tryptophan depletion compared with placebo. CONCLUSIONS: These data question the dependence of alcohol cue-induced craving in sober alcoholics on the ongoing synthesis of serotonin.

Adult↗

Firing properties of hippocampal neurons in a visually symmetrical environment: contributions of multiple sensory cues and mnemonic processes.

The location-specific firing of hippocampal place cells can easily be brought under the control of experimenter-defined cues. Nevertheless, there is evidence that these firing fields are not determined just by immediate sensory input, but also by earlier states of the nervous system (O'Keefe and Speakman, 1987). Here, we report further on the roles of multiple visual cues and mnemonic processes in determining the firing of place cells. Rats were trained to chase food pellets in a cylinder with homogeneous gray walls and 1 white cue card. After a cell's field was recorded in this "standard" condition, probe sessions were conducted in which a second card was placed 180 degrees away from the first. This configuration created a diametrically symmetrical environment in which pairs of locations 180 degrees apart were identical with respect to views of the wall and cards. If place cells are strongly controlled by these immediately available views, firing in the 2-card configuration should be diametrically symmetrical. Alternatively, because the rat moves freely in the cylinder, information is available that pairs of visually identical places are not truly the same. If some mnemonic process stores and updates information about the rat's paths during the session, it is possible that the firing pattern will be different in 2 such places, especially because the original training was conducted in the 1-card, asymmetrical environment. Thirteen of 18 cells had a single, asymmetric firing pattern after the second card was introduced; the field was the same size and shape as in the 1-card configuration and in the same spatial relation to 1 of the 2 cards. The field position during 2-card sessions could be rotated 180 degrees by starting the rat by one card or the other. In further probe sessions in which the cue cards, entry location, and background cues were, in various combinations, rotated in relation to each other, these cells always showed a single field, similar in size and shape to that in the standard, and in the same relationship as in the standard to as many cues as possible. The remaining 5 cells showed complex changes over repeated 2-card sessions, and 3 of these showed paired fields, 180 degrees apart for at least some of the sessions. In one case, the second field disappeared with repeated exposures to 2 cards; in another, the second field persisted when only 1 card was used. We conclude that place cells are influenced both by the immediate sensory configuration and by internal neural states related to earlier experience in the environment.

Action Potentials↗

A comparison between illumination and position pictorial depth cues.

It has long been established that pictorial depth is created by position and illumination cues, but the relative effectiveness of these cues is unknown. This study compared position cues in line illustrations to combined position and illumination cues in color illustrations for the amount and quality of depth depiction. Results show that including illumination cues in illustrations enhances the impression of space and that illustrations of shallow space are more affected than illustrations of deep space when illumination cues are deleted.

Depth Perception↗