Abstract The human mu rhythm has been suggested to represent an important function in information processing. Rodent homologue rhythms have been assumed though no study has investigated them from the cognitive aspect yet. As voluntary goal-directed movements induce the desynchronization of mu rhythm, we aimed at...
Abstract The use of touchscreen technology to evaluate cognitive deficits in animal models has grown tremendously over the past 20 years. The touchscreen apparatus encompasses many advantages, namely a high level of standardization and translational capability. Improvements in technology in recent years have expanded the versatility of the...
Abstract Social animals likely recognize emotional expressions in other animals. Recent studies suggest that mice can visually perceive emotional expressions of other mice. In the first experiment, we measured the preference of mice for two different facial expressions (a normal facial expression and an expression of...
Abstract: The temporal dynamics of perceptual decisions offer a key window into the cognitive processes contributing to decision-making. Investigating perceptual dynamics in a genetically tractable animal model can facilitate the subsequent unpacking of the underlying neural mechanisms. Here, we investigated the time course as well as...
Abstract In the striatum, cholinergic interneurons (CINs) have the ability to release both acetylcholine and glutamate, due to the expression of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) and the vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (VGLUT3). However, the relationship these neurotransmitters have in the regulation of behavior is not...
Norman KJ, Bateh J, Maccario P, Cho C, Caro K, Nishioka T, Koike H, Morishita H Front Neurosci. 2022 Jan 11 doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.775256 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.775256/full Abstract: Top-down attention is a dynamic cognitive process that facilitates the detection of the task-relevant stimuli from our complex sensory environment. A neural mechanism capable...
Abstract The hippocampus is a critical structure involved in many forms of learning and memory. It is also one of the only regions in the mammalian brain that continues to generate new neurons throughout adulthood. This process of adult neurogenesis may increase the plasticity of the...
Abstract With the growing popularity of touchscreen cognitive testing in rodents, it is imperative to understand the fundamental effects exposure to this paradigm can have on the animals involved. In this study, we set out to assess hippocampal-dependant learning in the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer’s...
Abstract Sequential and cue-directed response learning in rodents have been previously shown to depend on intact striatal signaling. In particular, these behaviors rely on striatal dopamine and acetylcholine release, with an impairment of sequential response learning evident in animal models with alterations in the two systems....
Abstract Category learning groups stimuli according to similarity or function. This involves finding and attending to stimulus features that reliably inform category membership. Although many of the neural mechanisms under-lying categorization remain elusive, models of human category learning posit that prefrontal cortex plays a substantial role....