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At least 739 records · Page 41Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Differences between golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) in preference for the sole diet that they are eating.

D. DiBattista (2002) reported that hamsters but not rats showed reduced preferences for the sole diet they had eaten for 10 days. In the current study, the authors fed Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) a nutritious diet for either 3 or 10 days, then tested them either immediately or 1 or 3 days later. The authors found that like golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), rats exhibited reduced preferences for a prefed diet but only if tested either immediately or 1 day after prefeeding, not if tested 3 days later (when D. DiBattista tested his hamsters). Rats and hamsters differed in the longevity, not the development, of reduced preferences for a palatable food eaten for several consecutive days. Such a response might aid dietary generalists in constructing balanced diets when no single available food is nutritionally adequate.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

One-sided limb preference is linked to alternating-limb locomotion in anuran amphibians.

Amphibians provide a unique opportunity for identifying possible links between lateralized behaviors, locomotion, and phylogeny and for addressing the origin of lateralized behaviors of higher vertebrates. Five anuran species with different locomotive habits were tested for forelimb and hind limb preferences during 2 stereotyped behavior sequences--wiping a foreign object off their snout and righting themselves from the overturned position. The experiments were analyzed in a broader context of previous findings on anuran lateralization involving 11 anuran species that were studied within the same experimental paradigms. This analysis shows that one-sided forelimb and hind limb motor lateralization in anurans is strongly associated with alternating-limb locomotion and other unilateral limb activity. Conclusions reached for anuran amphibians may be applicable to other vertebrates possessing paired appendages-the degree of lateralization in motor response depends on the mode of locomotion used by a species.

Amphibians↗
PubMed2001

Conditioned flavor preference and aversion: role of the lateral hypothalamus.

Food-restricted rats with ibotenic acid lesions of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and sham controls were trained to associate flavored solutions with positive or negative postingestive consequences. The LH rats learned to prefer a flavor that was paired with concurrent intragastric infusions of maltodextrin. Unlike controls, the LH rats failed to learn a preference for a flavor paired with delayed maltodextrin infusions and showed an attenuated preference for a flavor paired with concurrent fat infusions. The LH rats did not differ from controls in learning to avoid flavors paired with concurrent or delayed infusions of lithium chloride. These data indicate that the LH is not essential for all types of flavor-postingestive consequence conditioning but is critical for learning to associate flavors with delayed nutrient feedback.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Lateralization of spatial learning in the avian hippocampal formation.

The authors investigated lateralization of spatial learning within the avian hippocampal formation (HF). In Experiment 1, homing pigeons (Columba livia) with unilateral lesions of the right or left HF were trained to locate a goal in a square room containing local landmarks and global room cues. All groups learned the task. During probe trials, when landmarks were rotated or removed, intact pigeons and left HF-lesioned pigeons relied exclusively on global room cues to locate the food goal. Pigeons with right HF lesions were the only group to demonstrably use the landmarks. The results suggest that the right HF is preferentially involved in the representation of global environmental space, whereas only the left HF may be sensitive to local landmarks for navigation.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Impaired sustained attention and error-induced stereotypy in the aged Ts65Dn mouse: a mouse model of Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease.

This study compared performance of 15- to 17-month-old Ts65Dn mice to that of littermate controls on an automated sustained attention task in which the location, onset time, and duration of brief visual cues varied unpredictably. Ts65Dn mice committed more omission errors than controls, particularly on trials with the briefest cues. Videotape data revealed that the trisomic mice attended less than controls during the period before cue presentation and engaged in stereotypic jumping and grooming immediately after making an error. These findings reveal that Ts65Dn mice are impaired in sustaining attention and exhibit heightened reactivity to committing an error, and support the validity of this mouse model for studying Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease. The attention task, coupled with the videotape analyses of task performance, provides a useful paradigm for studying attention and reactivity to errors in mice.

Aging↗
PubMed2005

Effects of blocking nitric oxide on learning in turtles (Chrysemys picta).

Turtles (Chrysemys picta) were given the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor NW-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) or its inactive isomer NW-nitro-D-arginine methyl ester (D-NAME) and were trained on a negative patterning task or a simple go/no-go discrimination task. L-NAME impaired the learning of negative patterning but did not affect retention of the task if it had already been learned. D-NAME had no effect. Go/no-go discrimination learning was not affected by L-NAME. These findings support the notion that nitric oxide plays a role in complex configural learning in a reptile closely related to the ancestors of mammals.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Sensitization of salt appetite is associated with increased "wanting" but not "liking" of a salt reward in the sodium-deplete rat.

To examine the role of incentive sensitization in the potentiation of salt appetite by prior depletions, the authors assessed the motivation to obtain salt ("wanting") and the palatability of salt ("liking") independently in salt-sensitized rats. Breakpoint on a progressive ratio reinforcement schedule was used to measure salt wanting and taste reactivity was used to measure salt liking in rats with and without a history of Na+ depletion. Salt-sensitized rats displayed higher breakpoints relative to controls. However, a history of Na+ depletion was not associated with a greater positive shift in taste reactivity measures. The data suggest that these components of reward are separable in this model and support the general proposition that sensitization may alter wanting but not liking.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Preference for violent electronic games, self-concept, and gender differences in young children.

Electronic game-playing has been linked to adjustment problems in player subgroups. This study examined relationships among time commitment, gender, preference for violent games, and self-concept in 364 fourth and fifth graders. Main effects were identified for game preference and gender, with stronger preference for violent games being associated with lower self-perceived behavioral conduct. Implications for future research are discussed.

Behavior, Addictive↗
PubMed2003

Speed and accuracy of olfactory discrimination in the rat.

The sense of smell is typically thought of as a 'slow' sense, but the true temporal constraints on the accuracy of olfactory perception are not known. It has been proposed that animals make finer odor discriminations at the expense of additional processing time. To test this idea, we measured the relationship between the speed and accuracy of olfactory discrimination in rats. We found that speed of discrimination was independent of odor similarity, as measured by overlap of glomerular activity patterns. Even when pushed to psychophysical limits using mixtures of two odors, rats needed to take only one sniff (<200 ms at theta frequency) to make a decision of maximum accuracy. These results show that, for the purpose of odor quality discrimination, a fully refined olfactory sensory representation can emerge within a single sensorimotor or theta cycle, suggesting that each sniff can be considered a snapshot of the olfactory world.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Critical role of the hippocampus in memory for sequences of events.

Recent models of hippocampal function emphasize the potential role of this brain structure in encoding and retrieving sequences of events that compose episodic memories. Here we show that hippocampal lesions produce a severe and selective impairment in the capacity of rats to remember the sequential ordering of a series of odors, despite an intact capacity to recognize odors that recently occurred. These findings support the hypothesis that hippocampal networks mediate associations between sequential events that constitute elements of an episodic memory.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

The amygdala and reward.

The amygdala -- an almond-shaped group of nuclei at the heart of the telencephalon -- has been associated with a range of cognitive functions, including emotion, learning, memory, attention and perception. Most current views of amygdala function emphasize its role in negative emotions, such as fear, and in linking negative emotions with other aspects of cognition, such as learning and memory. However, recent evidence supports a role for the amygdala in processing positive emotions as well as negative ones, including learning about the beneficial biological value of stimuli. Indeed, the amygdala's role in stimulus-reward learning might be just as important as its role in processing negative affect and fear conditioning.

Amygdala↗
PubMed2003

Cognitive enhancing properties and tolerability of cholinergic agents in mice: a comparative study of nicotine, donepezil, and SIB-1553A, a subtype-selective ligand for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Several studies have demonstrated the importance of nicotinic mechanisms in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative and cognitive disorders, warranting the search and development of novel nicotinic ligands as potential therapeutic agents. The present study was designed to assess whether the subtype-selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) ligand SIB-1553A [(+/-)-4-([2-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)ethyl]thio)phenol hydrochloride], with predominant agonist activity at beta4 subunit-containing human nAChRs, and no activity at muscle nAChR subtypes, could enhance cognitive performance in rodents with a more desirable safety/tolerability profile as compared to the nonselective prototypic nAChR ligand nicotine. SIB-1553A was equi-efficacious to nicotine in improving working memory performance in scopolamine-treated mice as measured by increased alternation in a T-maze, and was more efficacious than nicotine in improving the baseline cognitive performance of aged mice. This effect on working memory was confirmed in a delayed nonmatching to place task using the eight-arm radial maze. SIB-1553A produced dose-dependent side effects (ie motor deficits and seizures), although these effects were observed at doses 12 to 640-fold above those required to increase cognitive performance. Overall, SIB-1553A was significantly less potent than nicotine in eliciting these undesirable effects. Thus, the subtype-selective profile of SIB-1553A appears to translate into a more efficacious and better tolerated nAChR ligand as compared to nicotine. In the present studies, cognitive enhancement induced by SIB-1553A was similar in magnitude to that produced by the clinically efficacious acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil. Taken together, the present data confirm the importance of nAChR subtypes in modulating cognitive processes, and suggest that activation of nAChR subtypes by selective nAChR ligands may be a viable approach to enhance cognitive performance.

Age Factors↗