Psychobiological Research Articles

Biological Movements as Objects of Natural Science (In memory of Michael Turvey, February 14, 1942 - August 12, 2023)

Michael Turvey was a great scientist, encyclopedist, fine lecturer, and, together with his wife and colleague Claudia Carello a wonderful friend of many. Mike Turvey was able to educate the next generation of students and influence the thinking of many outstanding researchers by focusing on a multidisciplinary approach to ecological psychology in which organisms directly perceive sensory stimuli and evaluate them depending on actions they can accomplish in the environment (Gibson 1968). This, “affordance principle” is applied to all biological kingdoms from a single cell amoeba to multi-celled organisms. Some other essential ideas in behavioral neuroscience advanced by Turvey are considered.

Ethorobotic rats for rodent behavioral research: design considerations.

The development of robots as tools for biological research, sometimes termed "biorobotics", has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by the proliferation of miniaturized computation and advanced manufacturing techniques. Much of this work is focused on the use of robots as biomechanical models for natural systems. But, increasingly, biomimetic robots are being employed to interact directly with animals, as component parts of ethology studies in the field and behavioral neuroscience studies in the laboratory. While it has been possible to mechanize and automate animal behavior experiments for decades, only recently has there been the prospect of creating at-scale robotic animals containing the sensing, autonomy and actuation necessary for complex, life-like interaction. This not only opens up new avenues of enquiry, but also provides important ways to improve animal welfare, both by reducing or replacing the use of animal subjects, and by minimizing animal distress (if robots are used judiciously). This article will discuss the current state of the art in robotic lab rats, providing perspective on where research could be directed to enable the safe and effective use of biorobotic animals.

Effects of home-cage elevation on behavioral tests in mice.

Research reproducibility is a common problem in preclinical behavioral science. Mice are an important animal model for studying human behavioral disorders. Experimenters, processing methods, and rearing environments are the main causes of data variability in behavioral neuroscience. It is likely that mice adapt their behavior according to the environment outside the breeding cage. We speculated that mice housed on elevated shelves and mice housed on low shelves might have differently altered anxiety-like behavior toward heights. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential behavioral changes in mice raised at different heights for 3 weeks. Changes in behavior were examined using various experimental tests. Mice housed on elevated shelves showed reduced anxiety-like behavior in a light/dark traffic test compared with mice housed on low shelves. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of activity, exploratory behavior, muscle strength, or depression-like behavior. Our results indicate that different cage heights and corresponding light exposure may alter the anxiety-like behavior of mice in response to brightness. Researchers need to carefully control the cage height and light intensity experienced by the mice to produce reproducible test results.

Awards for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology.

The Early Career Awards, given for the first time in 1974, recognize the large number of excellent early career psychologists. Recipients of this award may not have held a doctoral degree for more than nine years. For purposes of this award, psychology has been divided into 10 areas: animal learning and behavior, comparative; developmental; health; cognition/human learning; psychopathology; behavioral and cognitive neuroscience; perception/motor performance; social; applied research; and individual differences. Five areas are considered each year, with areas rotated in two-year cycles. The areas considered in 2023 were applied research; behavioral and cognitive neuroscience; individual differences; perception and motor performance; and social psychology. The 2023 recipients of the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards were recognized by the 2022 Board of Scientific Affairs and selected by the 2022 Committee on Scientific Awards. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Behavioral and cognitive neuroscience findings regarding assumptions of the evidence accumulation model

Behavioral and cognitive neuroscience findings regarding assumptions of the evidence accumulation model

Adapting to Thrive: How the Evolution of Brain Physiology Shapes Human Behavior

In this paper we analyze diverse theories about the workings of the mind and the evolutionary trajectory of brain physiology, giving rise to species-typical mechanisms in human cognition. Evolutionary psychology has shed light on how a computational theory of the mind elucidates the development of specialized psychological programs, enhancing our fitness based on ancestral conditions. An example of such adaptation is the expansion of the prefrontal cortex relative to body size, particularly among primates. This enlargement fosters the formation of intricate social structures, leading to more extensive groups and refined social dynamics. Interestingly, this positive link between brain size and social structure holds true for both humans and non-human primates. Recent strides in neuroscience and brain technology have enabled us to uncover the primary brain regions influencing social cognition, executive function, and emotional processing. Brain areas including the frontal lobe, prefrontal cortex, insular cortex, cingulate cortex, hypothalamus, and others intricately shape learning, emotion regulation, and decision-making processes. Therefore, the evidence for the evolutionary theory of the mind and its implications for behavioral neuroscience are undeniable.

Editorial: Meditative practice and behavioral neuroscience

Editorial: Meditative practice and behavioral neuroscience

From grouping and cooperation to menstruation: Spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus) are an emerging mammalian model for sociality and beyond

While spiny mice are primarily used as a model for Type II diabetes and for studying complex tissue regeneration, they are also an emerging model for a variety of studies examining hormones, behavior, and the brain. We began studying the spiny mouse to take advantage of their highly gregarious phenotype to examine how the brain facilitates large group-living. However, this unique rodent can be readily bred and maintained in the lab and can be used to ask a wide variety of scientific questions. In this brief communication we provide an overview of studies that have used spiny mice for exploring physiology and behavior. Additionally, we describe how the spiny mouse can serve as a useful model for researchers interested in studying precocial development, menstruation, cooperation, and various grouping behaviors. With increasingly available technological advancements for non-traditional organisms, spiny mice are well-positioned to become a valuable organism in the behavioral neuroscience community.

The power of storytelling in STEM

Elea-Maria Abisamra is an honors undergraduate student and research fellow at Virginia Tech. She is majoring in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience and has passions for STEM, writing, and entrepreneurship. In June 2022, Elea acted on her dream and founded Kids Can Write, becoming a CEO of a global nonprofit organization helping turn kids into published authors while teaching them STEM in an innovative and unique way. This is her story.

All Light, Everywhere? Photoreceptors at Nonconventional Sites.

One of the biggest environmental alterations we have made to our species is the change in the exposure to light. During the day, we typically sit behind glass windows illuminated by artificial light that is >400 times dimmer and has a very different spectrum than natural daylight. On the opposite end are the nights that are now lit up by several orders of magnitude. This review aims to provide food for thought as to why this matters for humans and other animals. Evidence from behavioral neuroscience, physiology, chronobiology, and molecular biology is increasingly converging on the conclusions that the biological nonvisual functions of light and photosensory molecules are highly complex. The initial work of von Frisch on extraocular photoreceptors in fish, the identification of rhodopsins as the molecular light receptors in animal eyes and eye-like structures and cryptochromes as light sensors in nonmammalian chronobiology, still allowed for the impression that light reception would be a relatively restricted, localized sense in most animals. However, light-sensitive processes and/or sensory proteins have now been localized to many different cell types and tissues. It might be necessary to consider nonlight-responding cells as the exception, rather than the rule.

Mechanical vibration patterns elicit behavioral transitions and habituation in crawling Drosophila larvae.

How animals respond to repeatedly applied stimuli, and how animals respond to mechanical stimuli in particular, are important questions in behavioral neuroscience. We study adaptation to repeated mechanical agitation using the Drosophila larva. Vertical vibration stimuli elicit a discrete set of responses in crawling larvae: continuation, pause, turn, and reversal. Through high-throughput larva tracking, we characterize how the likelihood of each response depends on vibration intensity and on the timing of repeated vibration pulses. By examining transitions between behavioral states at the population and individual levels, we investigate how the animals habituate to the stimulus patterns. We identify time constants associated with desensitization to prolonged vibration, with re-sensitization during removal of a stimulus, and additional layers of habituation that operate in the overall response. Known memory-deficient mutants exhibit distinct behavior profiles and habituation time constants. An analogous simple electrical circuit suggests possible neural and molecular processes behind adaptive behavior.

Two is company: The posterior cerebellum and sequencing for pairs versus individuals during social preference prediction.

Previous studies have identified that the posterior cerebellum, which plays a role in processing temporal sequences in social events, is consistently and robustly activated when we predict future action sequences based on personality traits (Haihambo Haihambo et al. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 17(2), 241-251,2022) and intentions (Haihambo et al. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 23(2), 323-339,2023). In the current study, we investigated whether these cerebellar areas are selectively activated when we predict the sequences of (inter)actions based on protagonists' preferences. For the first time, we also compared predictions based on person-to-person interactions or single person activities. Participants were instructed to predict actions of one single or two interactive protagonists by selecting them and putting them in the correct chronological order after being informed about one of the protagonists' preferences. These conditions were contrasted against nonsocial (involving objects) and nonsequencing (prediction without generating a sequence) control conditions. Results showed that the posterior cerebellar Crus 1, Crus 2, and lobule IX, alongside the temporoparietal junction and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex were more robustly activated when predicting sequences of behavior of two interactive protagonists, compared to one single protagonist and nonsocial objects. Sequence predictions based on one single protagonist recruited lobule IX activation in the cerebellum and more ventral areas of the medial prefrontal cortex compared to a nonsocial object. These cerebellar activations were not found when making predictions without sequences. Together, these findings suggest that cerebellar mentalizing areas are involved in social mentalizing processes which require temporal sequencing, especially when they involve social interactions, rather than behaviors of single persons.

Comparative morphology of the whiskers and faces of mice (Mus musculus) and rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Understanding neural function requires quantification of the sensory signals that an animal's brain evolved to interpret. These signals in turn depend on the morphology and mechanics of the animal's sensory structures. Although the house mouse (Mus musculus) is one of the most common model species used in neuroscience, the spatial arrangement of its facial sensors has not yet been quantified. To address this gap, the present study quantifies the facial morphology of the mouse, with a particular focus on the geometry of its vibrissae (whiskers). The study develops equations that establish relationships between the three-dimensional (3D) locations of whisker basepoints, whisker geometry (arclength, curvature) and the 3D angles at which the whiskers emerge from the face. Additionally, the positions of facial sensory organs are quantified relative to bregma-lambda. Comparisons with the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) indicate that when normalized for head size, the whiskers of these two species have similar spacing density. The rostral-caudal distances between facial landmarks of the rat are a factor of ∼2.0 greater than the mouse, while the scale of bilateral distances is larger and more variable. We interpret these data to suggest that the larger size of rats compared with mice is a derived (apomorphic) trait. As rodents are increasingly important models in behavioral neuroscience, the morphological model developed here will help researchers generate naturalistic, multimodal patterns of stimulation for neurophysiological experiments and allow the generation of synthetic datasets and simulations to close the loop between brain, body and environment.

Behavioral neuroscience: Computation in individual neurons

Information coding is generally thought to emerge from fast activity across thousands of neurons. A recent study shows that many features of a sophisticated decision-action sequence are encoded by the slow activity of individual command neurons.

Nöropsikoloji Alanında Yapılan Akademik Çalışmaların Son 20 Yılı Üzerine Bir Bibliyometrik Analiz

Bibliometric analysis is an analysis study that examines the developments and academic studies in a field to be examined with methods such as common word analysis, citation analysis, bibliometric matching. When bibliometric analysis is applied in a very comprehensive field such as neuropsychology, it provides a good road map for researchers to determine the areas they will work in. However, when the literature on psychology and its subfields is reviewed, it is seen that the number of bibliometric analysis studies is quite low. For this reason, this study aims to analyze the last 20 years of academic studies in the field of neuropsychology. For this purpose, in the first stage of the research, articles on "neorupsychology" were searched in the WoS database, and the fields of psychology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, experimental psychology, behavioral sciences, developmental psychology, pediatrics, educational psychology, neuroimaging, biological psychology, social psychology, applied psychology and psychoanalytic psychology, which were considered to be most related to the field of neuropsychology, were selected. Common word analysis and social network analysis were performed on the articles containing the related words, and concept maps were created to enable visualization. Accordingly, it was observed that words such as "schizophrenia", "psychosis", "depression" lost their influence, albeit slowly, while words such as "assessment", "performance validity", "clinical neuropsychology", "rehabilitaion" increased their influence. It can be said that current studies in the field of neuropsychology have shifted away from focusing on a specific clinical condition and towards studies that include neuropsychological assessments and rehabilitation approaches.

The theoretical study of voluntary beliefs

Beliefs reinforce people's perception of right and wrong to provide behavioral guidance. But is our faith voluntary? Therefore, it is necessary to understand whether these beliefs can be determined by our conscious choices. To shed light on this debate, this paper will explain why people's beliefs are involuntary mainly by examining the relevant literature in biological, social, and cultural psychology and exploring the importance of science and education in helping individuals develop new beliefs in line with modern ethics. By exploring and understanding the underlying mechanisms that influence our belief system, people's beliefs can become more rational and more in line with the modern world. This requires the guidance of the government to make people return to rationality. Therefore, I believe that the government should call for social projects that follow modern ethical guidelines. These programs can give people awareness of protecting the environment and raising equality. By doing so, humans can be more adapted to embrace the beliefs of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Comparison of three DREADD agonists acting on Gq-DREADDs in the ventral tegmental area to alter locomotor activity in tyrosine hydroxylase:Cre male and female rats

RationaleDespite the increasingly pervasive use of chemogenetic tools in preclinical neuroscience research, the in vivo pharmacology of DREADD agonists remains poorly understood. The pharmacological effects of any ligand acting at receptors, engineered or endogenous, are influenced by numerous factors including potency, time course, and receptor selectivity. Thus, rigorous comparison of the potency and time course of available DREADD ligands may provide an empirical foundation for ligand selection. ObjectivesCompare the behavioral pharmacology of three different DREADD ligands clozapine-N-oxide (CNO), compound 21 (C21), and deschloroclozapine (DCZ) in a locomotor activity assay in tyrosine hydroxylase:cre recombinase (TH:Cre) male and female rats. MethodsLocomotor activity in nine adult TH:Cre Sprague-Dawley rats (5 female, 4 male) was monitored for two hours following administration of d-amphetamine (vehicle, 0.1–3.2 mg/kg, IP), DCZ (vehicle, 0.32–320 µg/kg, IP), CNO (vehicle, 0.32–10 mg/kg), and C21 (vehicle, 0.1–3.2 mg/kg, IP). Behavioral sessions were conducted twice per week prior to and starting three weeks after bilateral intra-VTA hM3Dq DREADD virus injection. Resultsd-Amphetamine significantly increased locomotor activity pre- and post-DREADD virus injection. DCZ, CNO, and C21 did not alter locomotor activity pre-DREADD virus injection. There was no significant effect of DCZ, CNO, and C21 on locomotor activity post-DREADD virus injection; however, large individual differences in both behavioral response and receptor expression were observed. ConclusionsLarge individual variability was observed in both DREADD agonist behavioral effects and receptor expression. These results suggest further basic research would facilitate the utility of these chemogenetic tools for behavioral neuroscience research.

Neurosurgical Interventions for Umpteen Psychological Afflictions: a Substantial Cross-Disciplinary Clinical Abridged Frame of Reference

Purpose: Clinical society faces tremendous difficulties while treating people with mental illnesses, and the best possible care can only be provided by using an integrative approach to assessment and therapy. Particularly, the field of "psychosurgery," or the neurosurgical management of mental diseases, has piqued interest as a possible means of changing behavior and awareness throughout human history. In cases of severe refractory mental disease, psychological surgery - including "deep brain stimulation" and "stereotactic ablation" - is a key therapy option. Recent developments in neuroimaging, as well as psychosurgery, have increased the focus on these therapy techniques. In this paper, the benefits and drawbacks associated with psychological surgery will be thoroughly examined. Objective: The main objective of the paper is to aid individuals in understanding the basics of psychosurgery and its applications. Additionally, it focuses on how to remove the stigma associated with psychosurgery by providing reliable scientific data. Basic information and an overview were supplied thoroughly and simply to fulfill the aforementioned claim. In order to address the "psychosurgery versus psychopharmacology" debate, this paper focuses on analyzing information from many sources and outlining the core principles of each of these treatment modalities. Design/Methodology/Approach: Psychological surgery, which includes "deep brain stimulation as well as "stereotactic ablation," is a crucial treatment strategy in situations of severe refractory mental illness. The fact that several large studies have shown a median rate of response of approximately fifty percent highlights the importance of choosing and selecting participants beforehand. This concept has received attention as a result of recent developments in neurological imaging. Markers of reaction in scientific journals on neuroimaging in psychological operations have also been carefully investigated in order to evaluate the current state of knowledge for imaging prior to surgery. Scientific information was acquired for this research from a variety of trustworthy and legitimate sources. Information has also been extracted from a variety of journal papers. Findings/Result: Even today, managing patients with mental diseases can be challenging, especially when it is felt that they lack the capacity to make intelligent decisions. Due to all of these factors, the practice of psycho-surgery should adopt an integrated method for assessment and therapy. The way psychological therapies are provided in the future will undoubtedly be impacted by concurrent breakthroughs in the fields of behavioral neuroscience, brain imaging, psychological medications, and neurosurgical procedures. According to studies, ablative neurosurgery and “deep brain stimulation” are successful experimental therapies for people with chronic, acute, and “treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder”, “major depressive disorder”, and “Tourette syndrome”. The careful identification of competent applicants has been guided by suggested criteria. After presenting the details and the expected outcome of the procedure, it is imperative to obtain the person's consent. Originality and Value: In order for readers from all academic disciplines to understand the basic concepts behind psychosurgery and how it can be used to treat a variety of psychological issues, all of the clinical material has been extracted from reliable, scientific publications and organized effectively in this paper without the use of many medical expressions. The scientific complexity of any theoretical or clinical information was avoided, and the material was organized so as to preserve consistency and systematization. Paper Type: Clinical/Healthcare management

Ontogeny of working memory and behavioural flexibility in the free movement pattern (FMP) Y-maze in zebrafish

The acquisition of executive skills such as working memory, decision-making and adaptive responding occur at different stages of central nervous system development. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are increasingly used in behavioural neuroscience for complex behavioural tasks, and there is a critical need to understand the ontogeny of their executive functions. Zebrafish across developmental stages (4, 7, 14, 30 and 90 days post fertilisation (dpf)), were assessed to track development of working memory (WM) and behavioural flexibility (BF) using the free movement pattern Y-maze (FMP Y-maze). Several differences in both WM and BF were identified during the transition from yolk-dependent to independent feeding. Specifically, WM is evident in all age groups, even from 4 dpf. However, BF is not developed until larvae start free feeding, and show significant improvement thereafter, with young adults (90 dpf) demonstrating the most well-defined BF. We demonstrate, for the first time, objective WM processes in 4 dpf zebrafish larvae. This suggests that those wishing to study WM in zebrafish may be able to do so from 4 dpf, thus drastically increasing throughput. In addition, we show that zebrafish follow distinct stages of cognitive development and age-related changes during the early developmental period. Finally, our findings indicate distinct WM and BF mechanisms, which may be useful to study for translational purposes.

Pupil dilation as a function of pitch discrimination difficulty: A replication of Kahneman and Beatty, 1967.

In the present paper, we carry out a replication of a seminal paper by Kahneman, D. & Beatty, J. (1967). Perception & Psychophysics, 2(3),101-105 for using pupillometry as an implicit measure of auditory processing load, specifically, non-verbal auditory processing. While numerous papers since have supported the notion that pupillometry is a fairly reliable index of processing load in general (Zekveld, A. A., Koelewijn, T., and Kramer, S. E. (2018). Trends in Hearing, 22,1-25; Winn, M. B., Wendt, D., Koelewijn, T., and Kuchinsky, S. E. (2018). Trends in Hearing, 22,1-32), they typically have relied on memory recall, and/or more sophisticated cognitive tasks such as language comprehension or split attention. Kahneman and Beatty's paper, despite that it was published more than 50 years ago, continues to be the primary citation to support the claim that pupillometry is a reliable index of task difficulty for a simple non-verbal pitch discrimination task therefore giving us an implicit measure for listening effort (e.g.,Kramer, S. E., Lorens, A., Coninx, F., Zekveld, A. A., Piotrowska, A., & Skarzynski, H. (2013). Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(4),426-442; Schlemmer, K. B., Kulke, F., Kuchinke, L., & Van Der Meer, E. (2005). Psychophysiology, 42(4),465-472; Lisi, M., Bonato, M., and Zorzi, M. (2015). Biological Psychology, 112,39-45). This type of task takes very little explicit memory, is non-verbal, and relies heavily on more low-level, automatic perceptual processing. Using two different replication studies, one exact, and one modified, we only replicated the main result in the modified replication. The true replication failed to replicate on all nine statistical tests. Overall, our findings suggest that pupil dilation can be used as an implicit measure of task difficulty for a simple, non-semantic, auditory task, however, the robustness of the effect appears relatively weak in comparison with the original study, and the amount of variation across participants much greater.