Neuronal correlates of goal-based motor selection in the prefrontal cortex

Choosing an action that leads to a desired goal requires an understanding of the linkages between actions and their outcomes. We investigated neural mechanisms of such goal-based action selection. We trained monkeys on a task in which the relation between visual cues, action types, and reward conditions changed regularly, such that the monkeys selected their actions based on anticipated reward conditions. A significant number of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex were activated, after cue presentation and before motor execution, only by particular action-reward combinations. This prefrontal activity is likely to underlie goal-based action selection.     

Dissociable roles of ventral and dorsal striatum in instrumental conditioning

Instrumental conditioning studies how animals and humans choose actions appropriate to the affective structure of an environment. According to recent reinforcement learning models, two distinct components are involved: a "critic," which learns to predict future reward, and an "actor," which maintains information about the rewarding outcomes of actions to enable better ones to be chosen more frequently. We scanned human participants with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they engaged in instrumental conditioning. Our results suggest partly dissociable contributions of the ventral and dorsal striatum, with the former corresponding to the critic and the latter corresponding to the actor.     

Video cameras on wild birds

New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are renowned for using tools for extractive foraging, but the ecological context of this unusual behavior is largely unknown. We developed miniaturized, animal-borne video cameras to record the undisturbed behavior and foraging ecology of wild, free-ranging crows. Our video recordings enabled an estimate of the species' natural foraging efficiency and revealed that tool use, and choice of tool materials, are more diverse than previously thought. Video tracking has potential for studying the behavior and ecology of many other bird species that are shy or live in inaccessible habitats.     

Encoding predictive reward value in human amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex

Adaptive behavior is optimized in organisms that maintain flexible representations of the value of sensory-predictive cues. To identify central representations of predictive reward value in humans, we used reinforcer devaluation while measuring neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We presented two arbitrary visual stimuli, both before and after olfactory devaluation, in a paradigm of appetitive conditioning. In amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, responses evoked by a predictive target stimulus were decreased after devaluation, whereas responses to the nondevalued stimulus were maintained. Thus, differential activity in amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex encodes the current value of reward representations accessible to predictive cues.     

Representation of action-specific reward values in the striatum

The estimation of the reward an action will yield is critical in decision-making. To elucidate the role of the basal ganglia in this process, we recorded striatal neurons of monkeys who chose between left and right handle turns, based on the estimated reward probabilities of the actions. During a delay period before the choices, the activity of more than one-third of striatal projection neurons was selective to the values of one of the two actions. Fewer neurons were tuned to relative values or action choice. These results suggest representation of action values in the striatum, which can guide action selection in the basal ganglia circuit.     

Adaptive coding of reward value by dopamine neurons

It is important for animals to estimate the value of rewards as accurately as possible. Because the number of potential reward values is very large, it is necessary that the brain's limited resources be allocated so as to discriminate better among more likely reward outcomes at the expense of less likely outcomes. We found that midbrain dopamine neurons rapidly adapted to the information provided by reward-predicting stimuli. Responses shifted relative to the expected reward value, and the gain adjusted to the variance of reward value. In this way, dopamine neurons maintained their reward sensitivity over a large range of reward values.     

Influence of gene action across different time scales on behavior

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 influence on a behavior.     

新农村建设中经济人利他行为对社会福利的影响

借助MATLAB软件利用自编程序,构造一个简明模型来仿真演示新农村建设中经济人利他行为对社会福利的影响。结果表明,在无强制机制约束条件下,无利他奖励机制的群体,利他倾向大的成员,其后期可配置资源和发展水平少于较自私成员;在无强制机制约束条件下,有事后奖励机制但无事后奖励预期的群体,利他倾向大的成员,其后期可配置资源和发展水平多于较自私成员;社会福利由于利他行为产生的利他社会效益,利他者获得的合作剩余和利他行为带来的荣誉义务效用而更大。由于新农村建设增加社会福利和发展农村生产力的一个有效途径是提升农民的理性模式和需求结构,为此可从群体和个人2个方面建立和完善利他行为奖励机制。     

冬季圈养灰雁行为初步观察

灰雁Anser anser是雁形目Anseriformes鸭科Anatidae雁属Anser的珍稀鸟类。为深入了解人工饲养灰雁冬季的行为节律,以东洞庭湖救助的灰雁为研究对象,利用目标动物取样法对灰雁冬季行为进行观察。研究将灰雁的行为分为取食、运动、警戒、静止、清理、社会共6类,包含20种具体行为,并对每一种行为进行了描述,建立了灰雁行为谱。记录灰雁每一种行为持续的时间。研究发现:灰雁不同行为最长持续时间差异较大,灰雁休憩行为最长可持续20 min左右,但通信的最长时间仅为16 s。灰雁不同行为的最短持续时间则差异不大,为3~10 s。白天行为节律的研究表明:取食、静止、运动、清理是灰雁冬季所占时间比例较高的行为,但各行为所占时间比例在1 d中存在波动。静止是灰雁行为所占比例最大的行为种类,主要发生在上午和傍晚,取食行为在1 d中存在2个高峰,但受喂食时间的影响。警戒主要伴随摄食而发生,且摄食时会伴随较多其他行为。冬季人工饲养灰雁白天行为节律的研究对于灰雁的成功救助和人工繁殖具有十分重要的意义。图 2 表 2 参16     

Neuronal activity related to reward value and motivation in primate frontal cortex

In several areas of the macaque brain, neurons fire during delayed-response tasks at a rate determined by the value of the reward expected at the end of the trial. The activity of these neurons might be related to the value of the expected reward or to the degree of motivation induced by expectation of the reward. We describe results indicating that the nature of reward-dependent activity varies across areas. Neuronal activity in orbitofrontal cortex represents the value of the expected reward, whereas neuronal activity in premotor cortex reflects the degree of motivation.     

Addiction as a computational process gone awry

Addictive drugs have been hypothesized to access the same neurophysiological mechanisms as natural learning systems. These natural learning systems can be modeled through temporal-difference reinforcement learning (TDRL), which requires a reward-error signal that has been hypothesized to be carried by dopamine. TDRL learns to predict reward by driving that reward-error signal to zero. By adding a noncompensable drug-induced dopamine increase to a TDRL model, a computational model of addiction is constructed that over-selects actions leading to drug receipt. The model provides an explanation for important aspects of the addiction literature and provides a theoretic view-point with which to address other aspects.     

Schedules of irrelevant signals and maintenance of monitoring behavior

Subjects clearly discriminated between critical and irrelevant signals, yet an intermittent schedule of irrelevant signals produced reliably higher rates of responding than did the continuous presentation of such signals. This is exactly the result obtained with similar variations in reward schedules. It seems that essentially "meaningless" changes in stimulation can reinforce behavior, too.     

When the world's population took off: the springboard of the Neolithic Demographic Transition

During the economic transition from foraging to farming, the signal of a major demographic shift can be observed in cemetery data of world archaeological sequences. This signal is characterized by an abrupt increase in the proportion of juvenile skeletons and is interpreted as the signature of a major demographic shift in human history, known as the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). This expresses an increase in the input into the age pyramids of the corresponding living populations with an estimated increase in the total fertility rate of two births per woman. The unprecedented demographic masses that the NDT rapidly brought into play make this one of the fundamental structural processes of human history.     

Behavior of captive white-footed mice

Detailed studies of the behavior of captive white-footed mice have cast a number of old problems in new perspectives. Many responses of small captive mammals cannot be interpreted at face value because of severe distortions of behavior that are caused by depriving the wild animal of natural outlets for activity. Confined animals are likely to seize upon and repeatedly exercise virtually any opportunities to modify (and alter their relationships with) their surroundings. In addition they have a strong tendency to counteract nonvolitional and "unexpected" deviations from the status quo. As a result, their responses do not bear an immutable relationship to the nature of the stimulus or other variable being modified; stimuli and activities that are rewarding in certain circumstances are avoided in others. These aspects of behavior have been illustrated by studies of nest occupancy, running in motordriven wheels, and control of intensity of illumination. The results of the control-of-illumination studies suggest the complex interplay of tendencies to modify features of the environment, to avoid conditions imposed compulsorily, and to select preferred levels of illumination. The importance of split-second timing, coordination, and quick reflex actions in the running of activity wheels is indicated by the fact that experienced white-footed mice prefer running in square "wheels" and wheels with hurdles to running in plain round wheels. The relatively conservative behavior of these mice in selecting between multiple sources of food and water and different types of activity wheels suggests the need for careful experimental design in free-choice studies with inexperienced animals. The tendency of trained animals to give some so-called "incorrect" responses even after long experience can be interpreted most reasonably in terms of the adaptive value of a certain degree of variability of behavior in the wild. White-footed mice readily master complex regimes in which several different levers and shutters must be pressed or rotated in certain sequences within seconds for different rewards. They quickly learn to traverse mazes containing hundreds of blind alleys and do so frequently without extrinsic reward. It is unlikely that these remarkable learning performances even begin to approach the capacities of the animals. When two female mice having markedly different solitary behavior patterns were placed in consort, the behavior of each changed, becoming more like that of the other, and the animals showed a strong tendency to remain in each other's company. The behavior of mice in enclosures of great extent casts doubt upon the postulate that hunger and thirst play leading roles in the motivation of wide-ranging locomotor movements. Accordingly, studies of deprived domestic animals in simple mazes may have but limited significance for understanding the behavior of wild and relatively unconfined animals. The existence of marked individual differences between mice selected at random from wild populations sounds the need for a cautious approach in the interpretation of results obtained with highly inbred domestic animals. The relatively uniform behavior of inbred strains represents only a small fragment of the total response spectrum for the species and probably has minimal significance for adaptation and evolution in the wild. When allowed to control the intensity of illumination by operating a series of switches, white-footed mice establish a roughly 24-hour regime consistent with that experienced in the wild, namely dim light during periods of activity and very dim light during periods of inactivity. Consistent with this finding, when exposed to a dim-dark light cycle, the mice are active during the dim phase, not in darkness. Artificial twilight transitions of both constant and varying color temperature have several marked effects upon the activity of white-footed mice. The existence of a strong orienting influence of dim light on the direction of wheel-running suggests that mice in the wild use the twilight sun and the moon (and possibly other celestial light sources) as navigational references.     

Reward timing in the primary visual cortex

We discovered that when adult rats experience an association between visual stimuli and subsequent rewards, the responses of a substantial fraction of neurons in the primary visual cortex evolve from those that relate solely to the physical attributes of the stimuli to those that accurately predict the timing of reward. In addition to revealing a remarkable type of response plasticity in adult V1, these data demonstrate that reward-timing activity-a "higher" brain function-can occur very early in sensory-processing paths. These findings challenge the traditional interpretation of activity in the primary visual cortex.     

南京地区黑水鸡繁殖期行为生态研究

[目的]全面了解南京地区黑水鸡繁殖期行为分配及生活习性,为黑水鸡的生境管理及保护提供科学依据。[方法]通过野外扫描取样与目标取样的方法研究繁殖期内黑水鸡行为节律与时间分配特点。[结果]野外观察表明,在黑水鸡繁殖期内,觅食行为所占时间分配比例最大,为74%;其次为游泳行为,为15%;行走行为占黑水鸡繁殖期行为的4%;黑水鸡在12：00～13：00时段有1个觅食行为低峰;在觅食行为及其时间分配上成鸟与幼鸟的差异极其明显。[结论]觅食行为是黑水鸡在繁殖期行为中的最主要行为,应在该阶段加强对黑水鸡生境管理,避免人为干扰。     

兔子在澳大利亚的引进和传播

1788年,英国"第一舰队"绕过数千年发展历史为澳洲大陆带来了西方文明和创新,开创了农作物栽培、畜禽改良史上的大交流、大变革时代.当时带入5只欧洲兔,后为增加动物多样性,满足上层绅士的狩猎需求,欧洲移民陆续引进旧大陆家兔.但兔子疯狂繁殖,吃光了所到之地的牧草和幼树皮,给生态环境造成了极大危害,成为澳大利亚臭名昭著的外来...     

Understanding overbidding: using the neural circuitry of reward to design economic auctions

We take advantage of our knowledge of the neural circuitry of reward to investigate a puzzling economic phenomenon: Why do people overbid in auctions? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we observed that the social competition inherent in an auction results in a more pronounced blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response to loss in the striatum, with greater overbidding correlated with the magnitude of this response. Leveraging these neuroimaging results, we design a behavioral experiment that demonstrates that framing an experimental auction to emphasize loss increases overbidding. These results highlight a role for the contemplation of loss in understanding the tendency to bid "too high." Current economic theories suggest overbidding may result from either "joy of winning" or risk aversion. By combining neuroeconomic and behavioral economic techniques, we find that another factor, namely loss contemplation in a social context, may mediate overbidding in auctions.     

BOLD responses reflecting dopaminergic signals in the human ventral tegmental area

Current theories hypothesize that dopamine neuronal firing encodes reward prediction errors. Although studies in nonhuman species provide direct support for this theory, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in humans have focused on brain areas targeted by dopamine neurons [ventral striatum (VStr)] rather than on brainstem dopaminergic nuclei [ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra]. We used fMRI tailored to directly image the brainstem. When primary rewards were used in an experiment, the VTA blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response reflected a positive reward prediction error, whereas the VStr encoded positive and negative reward prediction errors. When monetary gains and losses were used, VTA BOLD responses reflected positive reward prediction errors modulated by the probability of winning. We detected no significant VTA BOLD response to nonrewarding events.     

Threshold model of feeding territoriality and test with a hawaiian honeycreeper

A model is proposed predicting that in nectarivorous birds territorial behavior will occur above a lower threshold of nectar productivity in a foraging area and disappear above an upper threshold. These thresholds are determined by the daily costs of living of territorial and of nonterritorial individuals and by the pressure of competing birds for the resource. Decline of efficiency of territorial exclusiveness is predicted as productivity increases from the lower to the upper threshold. Hawaiian honeycreepers (Vestiaria coccinea) supported the model.