scholarly journals Color preferences affect learning in zebrafish, Danio rerio

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamal Roy ◽  
Piyumika S. Suriyampola ◽  
Jennifer Flores ◽  
Melissa López ◽  
Collin Hickey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Danio Rerio ◽  
Wild Population ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Social Stimulus ◽  
Reward Contingency ◽  
Color Preferences ◽  
Individual Fish

Abstract Animals may exhibit preference for colors that match their environment or the resources in the environment. These preferences may impact ability to learn associations with these colors and revert the associations when the reward contingency is modified. We used zebrafish Danio rerio from four populations to test if color preferences impact associative and reversal learning ability. First, we tested if preference for blue or green impact associative ability. We subjected individual fish through eight trials to associate a social stimulus with blue or green. Next, we tested if preference for red or green impact associative reversal learning ability. We trained fish in groups of three to associate a social stimulus with red or green over three trials, and reversed the reward contingency during the following session. Results showed that zebrafish preferred green over blue and domesticated fish chose green more than blue when there was a reward attached. Zebrafish also preferred red over green. Fish from one wild population learned with both colors and reversed learning only from green to red and not vice-versa. Fish from another population showed an overwhelming preference for red irrespective of what was rewarded. Domesticated fish did not show reversal learning ability.

scholarly journals Brain size affects performance in a reversal-learning test

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1871) ◽  
pp. 20172031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Séverine D. Buechel ◽  
Annika Boussard ◽  
Alexander Kotrschal ◽  
Wouter van der Bijl ◽  
Niclas Kolm
Keyword(s):  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Colour Discrimination ◽  
Reward Contingency ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Learning Test ◽  
Basic Learning

It has become increasingly clear that a larger brain can confer cognitive benefits. Yet not all of the numerous aspects of cognition seem to be affected by brain size. Recent evidence suggests that some more basic forms of cognition, for instance colour vision, are not influenced by brain size. We therefore hypothesize that a larger brain is especially beneficial for distinct and gradually more complex aspects of cognition. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the performance of brain size selected female guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ) in two distinct aspects of cognition that differ in cognitive complexity. In a standard reversal-learning test we first investigated basic learning ability with a colour discrimination test, then reversed the reward contingency to specifically test for cognitive flexibility. We found that large-brained females outperformed small-brained females in the reversed-learning part of the test but not in the colour discrimination part of the test. Large-brained individuals are hence cognitively more flexible, which probably yields fitness benefits, as they may adapt more quickly to social and/or ecological cognitive challenges. Our results also suggest that a larger brain becomes especially advantageous with increasing cognitive complexity. These findings corroborate the significance of brain size for cognitive evolution.

Translational approach to study flexibility as an endophenotype of obsessive compulsive disorders

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (S3) ◽  
pp. 546-546
Author(s):  
N. Benzina ◽  
S.L. Mondragon ◽  
N. Ouarti ◽  
L. Mallet ◽  
E. Burguiere
Keyword(s):  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
Repetitive Behaviors ◽  
Reward Contingency ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Behaviors ◽  
Translational Approach ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorders ◽  
Compulsive Disorders

Behavioral flexibility is the ability of a subject to change its behavior according to contextual cues. In humans, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD) is characterized by repetitive behavior, performed through rigid rituals. This phenomenological observation has led to explore the idea that OCD patients may have diminished behavioral flexibility. To address this question we developed innovative translational approaches across multiple species, including human patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders, and rodent genetic models of OCD to provide original data in the perspective of enlightening the neurocognitive bases of compulsive behaviors. Behavioral flexibility may be challenged in experimental tasks such as reversal learning paradigms. In these tasks, the subject has to respond to either of two different visual stimuli but only one stimulus is positively rewarded while the other is not. After this first association has been learned, reward contingency are inverted, so that the previously neutral stimulus is now rewarded, while the previously rewarded stimulus is not. Performance in reversal learning is indexed by the number of perseverative errors committed when participants maintain their response towards previously reinforced stimulus in spite of negative reward. Unsurprisingly, this behavioral task has been adapted to mice using various response modalities (T-maze, lever press, nose-poke). Using animal models of compulsive behaviors give much more possibilities to study the deficient functions and their underlying neural basis that could lead to pathological repetitive behaviors. Here we present new behavioral set-ups that we developed in parallel in human (i.e. healthy subjects and OCD patients) and mice (i.e. controls and SAPAP3-KO mice) to study the role of the behavioral flexibility as a possible endophenotype of OCD. We observed that the subjects suffering of compulsive behaviors showed perseverative maladaptive behaviors in these tasks. By comparing the results of a similar task-design in humans and mouse models we will discuss the pertinence of such translational approach to further study the neurocognitive basis of compulsive behaviors.

scholarly journals Learning and motor inhibitory control in crows and domestic chickens

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia A. F. Wascher ◽  
Katie Allen ◽  
Georgine Szipl
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Learning Criterion ◽  
Behavioural Flexibility ◽  
Learning Experiment

Cognitive abilities allow animals to navigate through complex, fluctuating environments. In the present study, we tested the performance of a captive group of eight crows, Corvus corone and 10 domestic chickens, Gallus gallus domesticus , in the cylinder task, as a test of motor inhibitory control and reversal learning as a measure of learning ability and behavioural flexibility. Four crows and nine chickens completed the cylinder task, eight crows and six chickens completed the reversal learning experiment. Crows performed better in the cylinder task compared with chickens. In the reversal learning experiment, species did not significantly differ in the number of trials until the learning criterion was reached. The performance in the reversal learning experiment did not correlate with performance in the cylinder task in chickens. Our results suggest crows to possess better motor inhibitory control compared with chickens. By contrast, learning performance in a reversal learning task did not differ between the species, indicating similar levels of behavioural flexibility. Interestingly, we describe notable individual differences in performance. We stress the importance not only to compare cognitive performance between species but also between individuals of the same species when investigating the evolution of cognitive skills.

scholarly journals Threat rapidly discrupts Reward Reversal Learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Paret ◽  
Florian Bublatzky
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Experimental Session ◽  
Reward Contingency ◽  
Electric Shocks ◽  
Skin Conductance Levels ◽  
Successful Induction ◽  
Safe Control ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior

Threat changes cognition to facilitate adaptive coping. However, when threat becomes overwhelming, this may be deleterious for mental health especially in vulnerable individuals. Flexible decision-making was probed with a reward reversal task to investigate, how well healthy participants (N=34) can adapt to changes in reward contingency when they expect adverse events (i.e. electric shocks). Relative to a safe control condition, threat-of-shock significantly impaired reward reversal learning. Moreover, enhanced self-reported threat ratings and elevated skin conductance levels support the successful induction of stressfull and aversive apprehensions. Findings are in line with existing literature showing stress-induced inhibition of goal-directed behavior, at advantage of a reflexive (habitual) response style. Notably, reversal learning was rapidly restored with the omission of threat through several cycles of threat and safety contexts within one experimental session. These results extend the current literature and illuminate the immediate consequence of a sustained threatening stressor (and its removal) on decision-making. Better knowledge of the immediate effects of anticipatory anxiety on behavior can improve understanding of psychopathology and may be informative for the development of effective therapy of anxiety and emotion dysregulation.

Reversal learning and resurgence of operant behavior in zebrafish ( Danio rerio )

2017 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 79-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshikazu Kuroda ◽  
Yuto Mizutani ◽  
Carlos R.X. Cançado ◽  
Christopher A. Podlesnik
Keyword(s):  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Danio Rerio ◽  
Operant Behavior

Neophobia is negatively related to reversal learning ability in females of a generalist bird of prey, the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorgelina María Guido ◽  
Laura Marina Biondi ◽  
Aldo Ivan Vasallo ◽  
Rubén Nestor Muzio
Keyword(s):  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Bird Of Prey ◽  
Milvago Chimango

scholarly journals Appetitive reversal learning differences of two honey bee subspecies with different foraging behaviors

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Pérez Claudio ◽  
Yoselyn Rodriguez-Cruz ◽  
Okan Can Arslan ◽  
Tugrul Giray ◽  
José Luis Agosto Rivera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Proboscis Extension Response ◽  
Flower Constancy ◽  
Appetitive Learning

We aimed to examine mechanistically the observed foraging differences across two honey bee, Apis mellifera, subspecies using the Proboscis Extension Response (PER) assay. Specifically, we compared differences in appetitive reversal learning ability between honey bee subspecies:Apis mellifera caucasica(Pollman), andApis mellifera syriaca(Skorikov) in a “common garden” apiary. It was hypothesized that specific learning differences could explain previously observed foraging behavior differences of these subspecies: A.m. caucasica switches between different flower color morphs in response to reward variability, and A.m. syriaca does not switch. We suggest that flower constancy allows reduced exposure by minimizing search and handling time, whereas plasticity is important when maximizing harvest in preparation for long winter is at a premium. In the initial or Acquisition phase of the test we examined specifically discrimination learning, where bees were trained to respond to a paired conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus and not to respond to a second conditioned stimulus that is not followed by an unconditioned stimulus. We found no significant differences among the subspecies in the Acquisition phase in appetitive learning. During the second, Reversal phase of the experiment, where flexibility in association was tested, the paired and unpaired conditioned stimuli were reversed. During the Reversal phaseA. mellifera syriacashowed a reduced ability to learn the reverse association in the appetitive learning task. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that A.m. syriaca foragers cannot change the foraging choice because of lack of flexibility in appetitive associations under changing contingencies. Interestingly, both subspecies continued responding to the previously rewarded conditioned stimulus in the reversal phase. We discuss potential ecological correlates and molecular underpinnings of these differences in learning across the two subspecies. In addition, in a supplemental experiment we demonstrated that these differences in appetitive reversal learning do not occur in other learning contexts.

scholarly journals Need for speed: Short lifespan selects for increased learning ability

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannis Liedtke ◽  
Lutz Fromhage
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Short Lifespan

Abstract It is generally assumed that an investment into cognitive abilities and their associated cost is particularly beneficial for long-lived species, as a prolonged lifespan allows to recoup the initial investment. However, ephemeral organisms possess astonishing cognitive abilities too. Invertebrates, for example, are capable of simple associative learning, reversal learning, and planning. How can this discrepancy between theory and evidence be explained? Using a simulation, we show that short lives can actually select for an increase in learning abilities. The rationale behind this is that when learning is needed to exploit otherwise inaccessible resources, one needs to learn fast in order to utilize the resources when constrained by short lifespans. And thus, increased cognitive abilities may evolve, not despite short lifespan, but because of it.

scholarly journals Appetitive reversal learning differences of two honey bee subspecies with different foraging behaviors

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Pérez Claudio ◽  
Yoselyn Rodriguez-Cruz ◽  
Okan Can Arslan ◽  
Tugrul Giray ◽  
José Luis Agosto Rivera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Reversal Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Proboscis Extension Response ◽  
Flower Constancy ◽  
Appetitive Learning

We aimed to examine mechanistically the observed foraging differences across two honey bee, Apis mellifera, subspecies using the proboscis extension response assay. Specifically, we compared differences in appetitive reversal learning ability between honey bee subspecies: Apis mellifera caucasica (Pollman), and Apis mellifera syriaca (Skorikov) in a “common garden” apiary. It was hypothesized that specific learning differences could explain previously observed foraging behavior differences of these subspecies: A.m. caucasica switches between different flower color morphs in response to reward variability, and A.m. syriaca does not switch. We suggest that flower constancy allows reduced exposure by minimizing search and handling time, whereas plasticity is important when maximizing harvest in preparation for long winter is at a premium. In the initial or Acquisition phase of the test we examined specifically discrimination learning, where bees were trained to respond to a paired conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus and not to respond to a second conditioned stimulus that is not followed by an unconditioned stimulus. We found no significant differences among the subspecies in the Acquisition phase in appetitive learning. During the second, Reversal phase of the experiment, where flexibility in association was tested, the paired and unpaired conditioned stimuli were reversed. During the Reversal phase A.m. syriaca showed a reduced ability to learn the reverse association in the appetitive learning task. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that A.m. syriaca foragers cannot change the foraging choice because of lack of flexibility in appetitive associations under changing contingencies. Interestingly, both subspecies continued responding to the previously rewarded conditioned stimulus in the reversal phase. We discuss potential ecological correlates and molecular underpinnings of these differences in learning across the two subspecies. In addition, in a supplemental experiment we demonstrated that these differences in appetitive reversal learning do not occur in other learning contexts.

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