Search results for "Appetitive Behavior"
showing 9 items of 9 documents
Disturbed social behavior and motivation in rats selectively bred for deficient sensorimotor gating
2007
Deficient prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle reflects disturbed sensorimotor gating found in certain neuropsychiatric disorders. We here tested whether rats selectively bred for deficient PPI are deteriorated in behavioral paradigms used to model negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Rats with low PPI preferred standard rat-chow when having the choice between lever-pressing for reward-pellets or freely available rat-chow, suggesting reduced motivation. Additionally, these rats show deteriorated social behavior during interaction with a juvenile rat. Rats selectively bred for low PPI may therefore be used as a model to study the biological mechanisms and therapeutic strategies of negative sy…
Private information alone can trigger trapping of ant colonies in local feeding optima.
2015
Ant colonies are famous for using trail pheromones to make collective decisions. Trail pheromone systems are characterised by positive feedback, which results in rapid collective decision making. However, in an iconic experiment, ants were shown to become 'trapped' in exploiting a poor food source, if it was discovered earlier. This has conventionally been explained by the established pheromone trail becoming too strong for new trails to compete. However, many social insects have a well-developed memory, and private information often overrules conflicting social information. Thus, route memory could also explain this collective 'trapping' effect. Here, we disentangled the effects of social …
Understanding insect foraging in complex habitats by comparing trophic levels: insights from specialist host-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid systems
2019
Insects typically forage in complex habitats in which their resources are surrounded by non-resources. For herbivores, pollinators, parasitoids, and higher level predators research has focused on how specific trophic levels filter and integrate information from cues in their habitat to locate resources. However, these insights frequently build specific theory per trophic level and seldom across trophic levels. Here, we synthesize advances in understanding of insect foraging behavior in complex habitats by comparing trophic levels in specialist host-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid systems. We argue that resources may become less apparent to foraging insects when they are member of higher trophic …
Influence of gene action across different time scales on behavior.
2002
Genes can affect natural behavioral variation in different ways. Allelic variation causes alternative behavioral phenotypes, whereas changes in gene expression can influence the initiation of behavior at different ages. We show that the age-related transition by honey bees from hive work to foraging is associated with an increase in the expression of the foraging ( for ) gene, which encodes a guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cGMP)–dependent protein kinase (PKG). cGMP treatment elevated PKG activity and caused foraging behavior. Previous research showed that allelic differences in PKG expression result in two Drosophila foraging variants. The same gene can thus exert different types of influe…
The role of contact chemoreception in the host location process of an egg parasitoid
2016
Taste allows insects to detect palatable or toxic foods, identify a mate, and select appropriate oviposition sites. The gustatory system strongly contributes to the survival and reproductive success of many species, yet it is rarely studied in insect parasitoids. In order to locate and assess a host in which they will lay their eggs, female wasps actively search for chemical cues using their sensory organs present mainly on the antennae. In this paper, we studied the role of antennal taste sensilla chaetica in the perception of contact semiochemicals in Trissolcus brochymenae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae), an egg parasitoid of the brassicaceae pest Murgantia histrionica (Heteroptera: Pentat…
The goldfish--a colour-constant animal.
1996
A series of either thirteen or fifteen coloured test fields with hues from blue through grey to yellow were presented on a black background. Goldfish were trained on a bluish-grey test field by food reward. In the training situation, the setup with the coloured papers was illuminated with white light. In the test situation, the colour of the illumination was changed to blue or yellow. In both test illuminations the goldfish preferred the training field in the same way as under white illumination despite the fact that this test field stimulated the cone types very differently from the training situation. As test fields were present that excited the cones in exactly the same way as under whi…
Pheromone-induced olfactory memory in newborn rabbits: Involvement of consolidation and reconsolidation processes.
2009
Mammary pheromone (MP)-induced odor memory is a new model of appetitive memory functioning early in a mammal, the newborn rabbit. Some properties of this associative memory are analyzed by the use of anisomycin as an amnesic agent. Long-term memory (LTM) was impaired by anisomycin delivered immediately, but not 4 h after either acquisition or reactivation. Thus, the results suggest that this form of neonatal memory requires both consolidation and reconsolidation. By extending these notions to appetitive memory, the results reveal that consolidation and reconsolidation processes are characteristics of associative memories of positive events not only in the adult, but also in the newborn.
The response of an egg parasitoid to substrate-borne semiochemicals is affected by previous experience
2016
AbstractAnimals can adjust their behaviour according to previous experience gained during foraging. In parasitoids, experience plays a key role in host location, a hierarchical process in which air-borne and substrate-borne semiochemicals are used to find hosts. In nature, chemical traces deposited by herbivore hosts when walking on the plant are adsorbed by leaf surfaces and perceived as substrate-borne semiochemicals by parasitoids. Chemical traces left on cabbage leaves by adults of the harlequin bug (Murgantia histrionica) induce an innate arrestment response in the egg parasitoid Trissolcus brochymenae characterized by an intense searching behaviour on host-contaminated areas. Here we …
Content, cost, and context: A framework for understanding human signaling systems
2019
Humans frequently perform extravagant and seemingly costly behaviors, such as widely sharing hunted resources, erecting conspicuous monumental structures, and performing dramatic acts of religious devotion. Evolutionary anthropologists and archeologists have used signaling theory to explain the function of such displays, drawing inspiration from behavioral ecology, economics, and the social sciences. While signaling theory is broadly aimed at explaining honest communication, it has come to be strongly associated with the handicap principle, which proposes that such costly extravagance is in fact an adaptation for signal reliability. Most empirical studies of signaling theory have focused on…