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BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Feb 2024Extrastriatal visual cortex is known to exhibit distinct response profiles to complex stimuli of varying ecological importance (e.g., faces, scenes, and tools). The...
Extrastriatal visual cortex is known to exhibit distinct response profiles to complex stimuli of varying ecological importance (e.g., faces, scenes, and tools). The dominant interpretation of these effects is that they reflect activation of distinct "category-selective" brain regions specialized to represent these and other stimulus categories. We sought to explore an alternative perspective: that the response to these stimuli is determined less by whether they form distinct categories, and more by their relevance to different forms of natural behavior. In this regard, food is an interesting test case, since it is primarily distinguished from other objects by its edibility, not its appearance, and there is evidence of food-selectivity in human visual cortex. Food is also associated with a common behavior, eating, and food consumption typically also involves the manipulation of food, often with the hands. In this context, food items share many properties in common with tools: they are graspable objects that we manipulate in self-directed and stereotyped forms of action. Thus, food items may be preferentially represented in extrastriatal visual cortex in part because of these shared affordance properties, rather than because they reflect a wholly distinct kind of category. We conducted fMRI and behavioral experiments to test this hypothesis. We found that behaviorally graspable food items and tools were judged to be similar in their action-related properties, and that the location, magnitude, and patterns of neural responses for images of graspable food items were similar in profile to the responses for tool stimuli. Our findings suggest that food-selectivity may reflect the behavioral affordances of food items rather than a distinct form of category-selectivity.
PubMed: 38529495
DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.20.581258 -
Current Biology : CB Apr 2024Sound elicits rapid movements of muscles in the face, ears, and eyes that protect the body from injury and trigger brain-wide internal state changes. Here, we performed...
Sound elicits rapid movements of muscles in the face, ears, and eyes that protect the body from injury and trigger brain-wide internal state changes. Here, we performed quantitative facial videography from mice resting atop a piezoelectric force plate and observed that broadband sounds elicited rapid and stereotyped facial twitches. Facial motion energy (FME) adjacent to the whisker array was 30 dB more sensitive than the acoustic startle reflex and offered greater inter-trial and inter-animal reliability than sound-evoked pupil dilations or movement of other facial and body regions. FME tracked the low-frequency envelope of broadband sounds, providing a means to study behavioral discrimination of complex auditory stimuli, such as speech phonemes in noise. Approximately 25% of layer 5-6 units in the auditory cortex (ACtx) exhibited firing rate changes during facial movements. However, FME facilitation during ACtx photoinhibition indicated that sound-evoked facial movements were mediated by a midbrain pathway and modulated by descending corticofugal input. FME and auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds were closely aligned after noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss, yet FME growth slopes were disproportionately steep at spared frequencies, reflecting a central plasticity that matched commensurate changes in ABR wave 4. Sound-evoked facial movements were also hypersensitive in Ptchd1 knockout mice, highlighting the use of FME for identifying sensory hyper-reactivity phenotypes after adult-onset hyperacusis and inherited deficiencies in autism risk genes. These findings present a sensitive and integrative measure of hearing while also highlighting that even low-intensity broadband sounds can elicit a complex mixture of auditory, motor, and reafferent somatosensory neural activity.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Male; Hearing; Sound; Acoustic Stimulation; Female; Auditory Cortex; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Movement; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem
PubMed: 38492568
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.057 -
PLoS Computational Biology Mar 2024Social reputations provide a powerful mechanism to stimulate human cooperation, but observing individual reputations can be cognitively costly. To ease this burden,...
Social reputations provide a powerful mechanism to stimulate human cooperation, but observing individual reputations can be cognitively costly. To ease this burden, people may rely on proxies such as stereotypes, or generalized reputations assigned to groups. Such stereotypes are less accurate than individual reputations, and so they could disrupt the positive feedback between altruistic behavior and social standing, undermining cooperation. How do stereotypes impact cooperation by indirect reciprocity? We develop a theoretical model of group-structured populations in which individuals are assigned either individual reputations based on their own actions or stereotyped reputations based on their groups' behavior. We find that using stereotypes can produce either more or less cooperation than using individual reputations, depending on how widely reputations are shared. Deleterious outcomes can arise when individuals adapt their propensity to stereotype. Stereotyping behavior can spread and can be difficult to displace, even when it compromises collective cooperation and even though it makes a population vulnerable to invasion by defectors. We discuss the implications of our results for the prevalence of stereotyping and for reputation-based cooperation in structured populations.
Topics: Humans; Cooperative Behavior; Models, Psychological; Altruism; Mass Behavior
PubMed: 38427626
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011862 -
The Journal of Experimental Biology Apr 2024Climbing represents a critical behavior in the context of primate evolution. However, anatomically modern human populations are considered ill-suited for climbing. This...
Climbing represents a critical behavior in the context of primate evolution. However, anatomically modern human populations are considered ill-suited for climbing. This adaptation can be attributed to the evolution of striding bipedalism, redirecting anatomical traits away from efficient climbing. Although prior studies have speculated on the kinetic consequences of this anatomical reorganization, there is a lack of data on the force profiles of human climbers. This study utilized high-speed videography and force plate analysis to assess single limb forces during climbing from 44 human participants of varying climbing experience and compared these data with climbing data from eight species of non-human primates (anthropoids and strepsirrhines). Contrary to expectations, experience level had no significant effect on the magnitude of single limb forces in humans. Experienced climbers did, however, demonstrate a predictable relationship between center of mass position and peak normal forces, suggesting a better ability to modulate forces during climbing. Humans exhibited significantly higher peak propulsive forces in the hindlimb compared with the forelimb and greater hindlimb dominance overall compared with non-human primates. All species sampled demonstrated exclusively tensile forelimbs and predominantly compressive hindlimbs. Strepsirrhines exhibited a pull-push transition in normal forces, while anthropoid primates, including humans, did not. Climbing force profiles are remarkably stereotyped across humans, reflecting the universal mechanical demands of this form of locomotion. Extreme functional differentiation between forelimbs and hindlimbs in humans may help to explain the evolution of bipedalism in ancestrally climbing hominoids.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Biomechanical Phenomena; Primates; Locomotion; Hindlimb; Lower Extremity
PubMed: 38426398
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.247012 -
Behavioural Brain Research Apr 2024Dopamine (DA) is mainly involved in locomotor activity, reward processes and maternal behaviors. Rats with KO gene for dopamine transporter (DAT), coding for a truncated...
Dopamine (DA) is mainly involved in locomotor activity, reward processes and maternal behaviors. Rats with KO gene for dopamine transporter (DAT), coding for a truncated DAT protein, are in hyperdopaminergic conditions and thus develop stereotyped behaviors and hyperactivity. Our aim was to test the prior transgenerational modulation of wild and truncated alleles as expressed in heterozygous DAT rats: specifically, we addressed the possible sequelae due to genotype and gender of the ancestors, with regard to behavioral differences in F, F, F rats. We studied non-classical DAT heterozygotes (HETs) based on two specular lines, with putative grand-maternal vs. grand-paternal imprinting. MAT females (F; offspring of KO male and WT female) mated with a KO male to generate MIX offspring (F). Specularly, PAT females (F; offspring of KO female and WT male) mated with a KO male to generate PIX offspring (F). Similarly to PAT, we obtained MUX (F; HET offspring of MAT sire and KO dam); we also observed the F (MYX: HET offspring of KO male and MUX female, thus with DAT-KO maternal grandmother like also for PIX). We studied their circadian cycle of locomotor activity and their behavior in the elevated-plus-maze (EPM). Locomotor hyper-activity occurs in F, the opposite occurs in F, with MYX rats appearing undistinguishable from WT ones. Open-arm preference emerged in PIX and MIX rats. Only MAT and MYX rats showed a significant vulnerability for ADHD-like inattentive symptoms (duration of rearing in the EPM; Viggiano et al., 2002). A risk-taking profile is evident in the F phenotype, while inattentiveness from F progeny tends to be transferred to F. We hypothesize that DAT-related phenotypes result from effective inheritance through pedigree of imprints that are dependent on grandparents, suggesting a protective role for gestation within a hyperdopaminergic uterus. For major features, similar odd (F, F) generations appear opposed to even (F) ones; for minor specific features, the phenotype transfer may affect the progenies with a male but not a female DAT-KO ancestor.
Topics: Rats; Male; Female; Animals; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Heterozygote; Reproduction; Phenotype; Cognition
PubMed: 38408522
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.114921 -
Journal of Applied Research in... May 2024Only about 9% of individuals with intellectual disabilities reach the government's physical activity (PA) recommendations. Combining gamification and technology seems...
BACKGROUND
Only about 9% of individuals with intellectual disabilities reach the government's physical activity (PA) recommendations. Combining gamification and technology seems particularly promising in overcoming personal and environmental barriers to PA participation.
METHOD
Eighteen adults with varying levels of intellectual disabilities completed a pilot study to assess the initial effects of a cycling gamification intervention on levels of PA, fitness, psychosocial outcomes, and challenging behaviours. The study comprised three designs: pre-post single group, AB single-case, and qualitative. Social validity, implementation barriers and facilitators were also explored.
RESULTS
Nearly all 18 participants cycled daily. Time and distance cycled daily increase during the intervention while a decrease in stereotyped behaviours was observed. Participants and staff found the intervention enjoyable and socially valid.
CONCLUSIONS
Results of the multiple-design study suggest that gamification interventions may be a suitable, enjoyable, and promising way to contribute to PA participation of adults with intellectual disabilities.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Intellectual Disability; Pilot Projects; Gamification; Exercise; Stereotyped Behavior
PubMed: 38404069
DOI: 10.1111/jar.13213 -
Neuropharmacology May 2024Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficient social communication and interaction together with restricted,...
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficient social communication and interaction together with restricted, stereotyped behaviors. Currently approved treatments relieve comorbidities rather than core symptoms. Since excitation/inhibition balance and synaptic plasticity are disrupted in ASD, molecules targeting excitatory synaptic transmission appear as highly promising candidates to treat this pathology. Among glutamatergic receptors, the NMDA receptor has received particular attention through the last decade to develop novel allosteric modulators. Here, we show that positive NMDA receptor modulation by zelquistinel, a spirocyclic β-lactam platform chemical, relieves core symptoms in two genetic and one environmental mouse models of ASD. A single oral dose of zelquistinel rescued, in a dose-response manner, social deficits and stereotypic behavior in Shank3 mice while chronic intraperitoneal administration promoted a long-lasting relief of such autistic-like features in these mice. Subchronic oral mid-dose zelquistinel treatment demonstrated durable effects in Shank3, Fmr1 and in utero valproate-exposed mice. Carry-over effects were best maintained in the Fmr1 null mouse model, with social parameters being still fully recovered two weeks after treatment withdrawal. Among recently developed NMDA receptor subunit modulators, zelquistinel displays a promising therapeutic potential to relieve core symptoms in ASD patients, with oral bioavailability and long-lasting effects boding well for clinical applications. Efficacy in three mouse models with different etiologies supports high translational value. Further, this compound represents an innovative pharmacological tool to investigate plasticity mechanisms underlying behavioral deficits in animal models of ASD.
Topics: Mice; Humans; Animals; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; Autistic Disorder; Stereotyped Behavior; Mice, Knockout; Disease Models, Animal; Microfilament Proteins; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein
PubMed: 38401792
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.109889 -
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Feb 2024Children with chronic tic disorders (CTD), including Tourette syndrome (TS), have significantly reduced serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. While vitamin D3...
Children with chronic tic disorders (CTD), including Tourette syndrome (TS), have significantly reduced serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. While vitamin D3 supplementation (VDS) may reduce tic symptoms in these children, its mechanism is unclear. The study aim was to investigate the effects and mechanisms of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and VDS on TS model behavior. Forty 5-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into (n = 10 each): control, TS model, TS model with VDD (TS + VDD), or TS model with VDS (TS + VDS; two intramuscular injections of 20,000 IU/200 g) groups. The VDD model was diet-induced (0 IU vitamin D/kg); the TS model was iminodipropionitrile (IDPN)-induced. All groups were tested for behavior, serum and striatal 25(OH)D and dopamine (DA), mRNA expressions of vitamin D receptor (VDR), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), protooncogene tyrosine-protein kinase receptor Ret (c-Ret), and DA D1 (DRD1) and D2 (DRD2) receptor genes in the striatum. TS + VDD had higher behavior activity scores throughout, and higher total behavior score at day 21 compared with TS model. In contrast, day 21 TS + VDS stereotyped behavior scores and total scores were lower than TS model. The serum 25(OH)D in TS + VDD was < 20 ng/mL, and lower than control. Striatal DA of TS was lower than control. Compared with TS model, striatal DA of TS + VDD was lower, while in TS + VDS it was higher than TS model. Furthermore, mRNA expression of VDR, GDNF, and c-Ret genes decreased in TS model, and GDNF expression decreased more in TS + VDD, while TS + VDS had higher GDNF and c-Ret expressions. VDD aggravates, and VDS ameliorates tic-like behavior in an IDPN-induced model. VDS may upregulate GDNF/c-Ret signaling activity through VDR, reversing the striatal DA decrease and alleviating tic-like behavior.
PubMed: 38396228
DOI: 10.1007/s00787-024-02376-z -
Behavior Modification Jul 2024Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) are effective tools for identifying stimuli that compete with automatically reinforced behavior. However, Jennett et al. suggests...
Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) are effective tools for identifying stimuli that compete with automatically reinforced behavior. However, Jennett et al. suggests there are cases for which non-contingent access to competing stimuli are insufficient at decreasing target responding and additional treatment components may be necessary. The purpose of the current study was to examine procedural variations (i.e., rotating competing items and prompted engagement) when presenting competing stimuli on increasing functional engagement and decreasing stereotypy. Following a functional analysis, a CSA was conducted to identify competing stimuli for four individuals with autism. Items identified were then used with two procedural variations. Levels of stereotypy, functional engagement, and item contact were measured. Results showed that for two participants both treatments were effective, while for the other two participants prompting functional engagement was more effective. Prompting functional engagement is likely a productive strategy for enhancing engagement with competing stimuli for automatically reinforced problem behavior as it may result in functional engagement becoming reinforcing in and of itself.
Topics: Humans; Male; Behavior Therapy; Reinforcement, Psychology; Child; Autistic Disorder; Stereotyped Behavior; Female; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Adolescent; Child, Preschool; Stereotypic Movement Disorder
PubMed: 38390868
DOI: 10.1177/01454455241232574 -
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis Mar 2024Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is a common treatment for automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy; it involves the contingent presentation of task...
Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is a common treatment for automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy; it involves the contingent presentation of task instructions. Tasks that are included in RIRD are typically selected based on caregiver report, which may affect the efficacy of RIRD. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the role of task preference in the efficacy of RIRD for four participants who engaged in vocal stereotypy. We conducted task-preference assessments and selected tasks of varying preferences to include in RIRD. For three out of four participants, the results showed that RIRD with higher preference tasks was not effective at reducing vocal stereotypy, whereas RIRD with lower preference tasks was effective for all participants.
Topics: Humans; Behavior Therapy; Stereotyped Behavior; Stereotypic Movement Disorder; Voice
PubMed: 38379177
DOI: 10.1002/jaba.1064