Abstract The explore/exploit tradeoff is a fundamental property of choice selection during reward-guided decision making. In perceptual decision making, higher certainty decisions are more motorically precise, even when the decision does not require motor accuracy. However, while we can parametrically control uncertainty in perceptual tasks, we...
Abstract Maternal immune activation (MIA) induces a variety of behavioral and brain abnormalities in offspring of rodent models, compatible with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia or autism. However, it remains controversial whether MIA impairs reversal learning, a basic expression of cognitive flexibility that seems to be...
Abstract Touchscreen devices, ubiquitous in humans’ day-to-day life, offer a promising avenue for animal enrichment. With advanced cognitive abilities, keen visual perception, and adeptness to engage with capacitive screens using dexterous tongues, parrots are uniquely positioned to benefit from this technology. Additionally, pet parrots often lack...
"Touchscreen computers, tablets and phones are all the rage right now with kids and adults alike. And, we’re learning that dolphins might not be any different.That’s right. Dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Md., now have an eight-foot underwater computer touchscreen attached to the...
Abstract: Automated touchscreen-based tasks are increasingly used to investigate various aspects of learning and behavior in mice. However, researchers often provide only brief descriptions of the training processes that precede the acquisition of experimental tasks, and shaping protocols typically lack detailed documentation. This study presents a...
Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a test to assess visual function in pigs using the visual psychophysics contrast sensitivity function.Methods: We utilized a touchscreen along with a pellet reward dispenser to train three Göttingen pigs on a visual psychophysics test and...
Abstract Recently, horses and other domestic mammals have been shown to perceive and react to human emotional signals, with most studies focusing on joy and anger. In this study, we tested whether horses can learn to identify human joyful and sad expressions against other emotions. We...
Abstract The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is a hub of diverse afferent and efferent projections thought to be involved in associative learning. RSC shows early pathology in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which impairs associative learning. To understand and develop therapies for diseases such...
Simple Summary “How do animals perceive the world, and what are they thinking about?” To approach these questions, a method where animals face a touch screen and work on various visual tasks was used. There have not been many studies conducted on cetaceans (e.g., dolphins and...
Check out this article outlining an innovative, comprehensive solution for researchers studying behavior in ectotherms and beyond, bridging the gap between constrained laboratory settings and natural behavior in nonconventional model systems. Abstract Understanding behavior and its evolutionary underpinnings is crucial for unraveling the complexities of brain function....