The Experts below are selected from a list of 14202 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jennifer L. Bizon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Effects of acute administration of the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen on Behavioral Flexibility in rats
Psychopharmacology, 2016Co-Authors: Blanca S. Beas, Barry Setlow, Jennifer L. BizonAbstract:Rationale The ability to adjust response strategies when faced with changes in the environment is critical for normal adaptive behavior. Such Behavioral Flexibility is compromised by experimental disruption of cortical GABAergic signaling, as well as in conditions such as schizophrenia and normal aging that are characterized by cortical hyperexcitability. The current studies were designed to determine whether stimulation of GABAergic signaling using the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen can facilitate Behavioral Flexibility. Methods Male Fischer 344 rats were trained in a set-shifting task in which they learned to discriminate between two response levers to obtain a food reward. Correct levers were signaled in accordance with two distinct response rules (rule 1: correct lever signaled by a cue light; rule 2: correct lever signaled by its left/right position). The order of rule presentation varied, but they were always presented sequentially, with the trials and errors to reach criterion performance on the second (set shift) rule providing the measure of Behavioral Flexibility. Experiments determined the effects of the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen (intraperitoneal, 0, 1.0, 2.5, and 4.0 mg/kg) administered acutely before the shift to the second rule. Results Baclofen enhanced set-shifting performance. Control experiments demonstrated that this enhancement was not simply due to improved discrimination learning, nor was it due to impaired recall of the initial discrimination rule. Conclusions The results demonstrate that baclofen can facilitate Behavioral Flexibility, suggesting that GABA(B) receptor agonists may have utility for treating Behavioral dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders.
-
effects of acute administration of the gaba b receptor agonist baclofen on Behavioral Flexibility in rats
Psychopharmacology, 2016Co-Authors: Sofia B Beas, Barry Setlow, Jennifer L. BizonAbstract:Rationale The ability to adjust response strategies when faced with changes in the environment is critical for normal adaptive behavior. Such Behavioral Flexibility is compromised by experimental disruption of cortical GABAergic signaling, as well as in conditions such as schizophrenia and normal aging that are characterized by cortical hyperexcitability. The current studies were designed to determine whether stimulation of GABAergic signaling using the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen can facilitate Behavioral Flexibility.
-
Prefrontal cortical GABAergic signaling and impaired Behavioral Flexibility in aged F344 rats
Neuroscience, 2016Co-Authors: Blanca S. Beas, Joseph A. Mcquail, Cristina Bañuelos, Barry Setlow, Jennifer L. BizonAbstract:The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is critical for the ability to flexibly adapt established patterns of behavior in response to a change in environmental contingencies. Impaired Behavioral Flexibility results in maladaptive strategies such as perseveration on response options that no longer produce a desired outcome. Pharmacological manipulations of prefrontal cortical GABAergic signaling modulate Behavioral Flexibility in animal models, and prefrontal cortical interneuron dysfunction is implicated in impaired Behavioral Flexibility that accompanies neuropsychiatric disease. As deficits in Behavioral Flexibility also emerge during the normal aging process, the goal of this study was to determine the role of GABAergic signaling, specifically via prefrontal cortical GABA(B) receptors, in such age-related deficits. Young and aged rats were trained in a set shifting task performed in operant chambers. First, rats learned to discriminate between two response levers to obtain a food reward on the basis of a cue light illuminated above the correct lever. Upon acquisition of this initial discrimination, the contingencies were shifted such that rats had to ignore the cue light and respond on the levers according to their left/right positions. Both young and aged rats acquired the initial discrimination similarly; however, aged rats were impaired relative to young following the set shift. Among aged rats, GABA(B) receptor expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was strongly correlated with set shifting, such that lower expression was associated with worse performance. Subsequent experiments showed that intra-mPFC administration of the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen enhanced set shifting performance in aged rats. These data directly link GABAergic signaling via GABA(B) receptors to impaired Behavioral Flexibility associated with normal aging.
Michael E. Ragozzino - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
familiality of Behavioral Flexibility and response inhibition deficits in autism spectrum disorder asd
Molecular Autism, 2019Co-Authors: Michael E. Ragozzino, Edwin H Cook, John A Sweeney, Lauren M Schmitt, Erin K Bojanek, Stormi P White, Matthew W MosconiAbstract:Diminished cognitive control, including reduced Behavioral Flexibility and Behavioral response inhibition, has been repeatedly documented in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We evaluated Behavioral Flexibility and response inhibition in probands and their parents using a family trio design to determine the extent to which these cognitive control impairments represent familial traits associated with ASD. We examined 66 individuals with ASD (probands), 135 unaffected biological parents, and 76 typically developing controls. Participants completed a probabilistic reversal learning task (PRL) and a stop-signal task (SST) to assess Behavioral Flexibility and response inhibition respectively. Rates of PRL and SST errors were examined across groups, within families, and in relation to clinical and subclinical traits of ASD. Based on prior findings that subclinical broader autism phenotypic (BAP) traits may co-segregate within families and reflect heritable risk factors, we also examined whether cognitive control deficits were more prominent in families in which parents showed BAP features (BAP+). Probands and parents each showed increased rates of PRL and SST errors relative to controls. Error rates across tasks were not related. SST error rates inter-correlated among probands and their parents. PRL errors were more severe in BAP+ parents and their children relative to BAP− parents and their children. For probands of BAP+ parents, PRL and SST error rates were associated with more severe social-communication abnormalities and repetitive behaviors, respectively. Reduced Behavioral Flexibility and response inhibition are present among probands and their unaffected parents, but represent unique familial deficits associated with ASD that track with separate clinical issues. Specifically, Behavioral response inhibition impairments are familial in ASD and manifest independently from parental subclinical features. In contrast, Behavioral Flexibility deficits are selectively present in families with BAP characteristics, suggesting they co-segregate in families with parental subclinical social, communication, and rigid personality traits. Together, these findings provide evidence that Behavioral Flexibility and response inhibition impairments track differentially with ASD risk mechanisms and related Behavioral traits.
-
Prefrontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia Attributes Underlying Behavioral Flexibility
The Neurobiological Basis of Memory, 2015Co-Authors: Michael E. Ragozzino, Phillip M. BakerAbstract:The Kesner neurobiologically based attribute model of memory is a multiple memory systems model proposing that different brain systems support specific memory representations based on attribute information. The model has served as a useful framework to test hypotheses about the nature of memory representations in the brain. The model has expanded beyond the neurobiology of memory to investigate how separate prefrontal cortex subregions support Behavioral Flexibility based on how attribute information must be used in different ways to allow adaptive behavior. Behavioral Flexibility refers to the ability to adapt strategies or choice patterns when changes in external or internal conditions signal a Behavioral strategy switch. The chapter first describes how different prefrontal cortex subregions support the flexible use of attribute information based on the Behavioral operation required to adapt. Under conditions in which a change in outcomes signals that a Behavioral switch should occur, accumulating evidence supports the idea that the prelimbic cortex enables a switch in strategies that allows the flexible use of different attribute information, that is, set-shifting. The orbitofrontal cortex enables Behavioral Flexibility when conditions require a new choice pattern using the same attribute information, that is, reversal learning. The chapter additionally considers a role for the dorsomedial striatum, which receives input from multiple prefrontal areas, in both set-shifting and reversal learning. Based on examination of the error patterns in these different tests, the prefrontal cortex enables Behavioral Flexibility by initially inhibiting a previous choice pattern and/or generating a new choice pattern while the dorsomedial striatum facilitates the reliable execution of a new choice pattern. It also describes recent findings indicating that the prelimbic cortex along with the subthalamic nucleus and dorsomedial striatum acts in a cooperative manner to enable Behavioral Flexibility when cues, as opposed to outcomes, guide a proactive Behavioral switch. Specifically, the prelimbic cortex and subthalamic nucleus enable the rapid inhibition of an ongoing choice pattern while concomitantly a neural system that includes the prelimbic cortex and dorsomedial striatum enables selection of an alternative choice pattern and maintenance of that selection. Taken together, the Kesner neurobiological model of memory has served as a framework to build substantial support for the idea that prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia structures are crucial to allow rapid and repeated adaptations under changing environmental demands.
-
reduced Behavioral Flexibility in autism spectrum disorders
Neuropsychology (journal), 2013Co-Authors: Anna Maria Dcruz, Michael E. Ragozzino, Matthew W Mosconi, Sunil Shrestha, Edwin H Cook, John A SweeneyAbstract:Reduced Behavioral Flexibility in Autism Spectrum Disorders Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by pervasive disturbances in social interactions and communication, and by circumscribed interests and restricted and repetitive behaviors (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; 4th ed., text rev; DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Understanding of the latter symptom domain remains limited, despite it contributing significantly to clinical distress and Behavioral problems (Bishop, Richler, Cain, & Lord, 2007; South, Ozonoff, & McMahon, 2005). Clarifying the cognitive bases of Behavioral rigidity in ASD has the potential to provide clues as to its pathophysiology, improve its clinical assessment, and guide development of new treatments that can alleviate this core feature of ASD. One possibility is that a specific impairment in the ability to transition away from preferred behaviors to new, more adaptive ones contributes to the occurrence of restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Some prior studies suggest that these behaviors are related to broad deficits in executive function and cognitive control in ASD (Lopez, Lincoln, Ozonoff, & Lai, 2005; Mosconi et al., 2009). However, results are inconsistent, and the specific cognitive impairments that may contribute to clinical manifestations of rigid behavior remain to be clarified. Studies have documented deficits in cognitive Flexibility in ASD using the Wisconsin Card Sort Test and the CANTAB ID/ED set shifting task, showing that individuals with autism are impaired when learning to shift set to a new perceptual sorting category (Corbett, Constantine, Hendren, Rocke, & Ozonoff, 2009; Goldstein, Johnson, & Minshew, 2001; Hughes, Russell, & Robbins, 1994). It is of note that these tests place demands not only on Behavioral Flexibility but also on multiple higher-order cognitive processes that are known to be impaired in ASD, such as perceptual reasoning skills. Thus, it remains uncertain as to what degree previous findings reflect deficits in flexible Behavioral control versus impaired cognition in other domains. Further, prior studies have not parsed apart different aspects of Behavioral Flexibility that are known to be supported by different cognitive and brain systems. For example, a Behavioral Flexibility deficit could result from the inability to initially inhibit a previously preferred choice pattern, or a deficit in maintaining a new choice pattern over time, which would point to impairments in frontal cortical and striatal functioning respectively (Dias, Robbins, & Roberts, 1996; Ragozzino, 2007; Robbins, 2007). Reversal learning tasks provide a direct approach to examining flexible choice behavior. This methodology is widely used across species, and thus is useful for testing mechanistic biological models, and for translational studies that can facilitate drug development (Brown, Amodeo, Sweeney, & Ragozzino, 2012; Ghahremani, Monterosso, Jentsch, Bilder, & Poldrack, 2010; Glascher, Hampton, & O’Doherty, 2009; Ragozzino, Mohler, Prior, Palencia, & Rozman, 2009). In contrast to extradimensional shifting which is more dependent on prefrontal cortical functions, reversal learning is primarily dependent upon striatal circuitry (Robbins, 2007). Reversal learning tasks assess simple intradimensional shifts in behavior, e.g. shifting from choosing one spatial location to another, rather than shifting across dimensions, such as from the color to the shape of stimuli. This is accomplished by requiring subjects to acquire a Behavioral response strategy using performance feedback, and then to reverse that response to an alternative option when the previously correct choice is no longer reinforced. Importantly, reversal learning tasks are designed to distinguish between deficits in disengaging from preferred behaviors versus maintaining new choice patterns. Few studies have examined reversal learning in ASD. Most have used small samples of young children who showed alterations in the ability to learn an initial response pattern in addition to reversal deficits (Coldren & Halloran, 2003; Lionello-Denolf, McIlvane, Canovas, de Souza, & Barros, 2008). If initial acquisition of a response is impaired, that can confound the interpretation of problems in switching to a new response, because this could result from a generalized learning deficit rather than a specific impairment in response shifting. Reports from larger and primarily adolescent samples using intradimensional subtests of the CANTAB ID/ED task do not show deficits in reversal learning in ASD (Edgin & Pennington, 2005; Goldberg et al., 2005; Ozonoff et al., 2004; Ozonoff, South, & Miller, 2000). However, a number of important issues remain to be resolved. First, reversal learning studies to date have not clarified whether there are deficits in the specific processes of selecting or maintaining new responses; whether one or the other is selectively affected could indicate alterations in distinct cognitive and brain systems. Second, studies have not systematically examined whether reversal learning performance is related to clinical manifestations of Behavioral rigidity. Third, because delayed maturation of Behavioral Flexibility in ASD may result in deficits that are more pronounced at younger ages, studies with older adolescents and young adults may have missed deficits evident in younger individuals. Finally, critical to a comprehensive understanding of Behavioral Flexibility in ASD is an understanding of how dynamically changing consequences for choice behaviors support or disturb flexible Behavioral control. Probabilistic reversal learning paradigms, in which accurate feedback or reinforcement for response choices is provided on only a proportion of trials, allow for an examination of the effect of inconsistent reinforcement on Behavioral Flexibility. The intermittent non-reinforcement used in probabilistic tasks increases the difficulty associated with establishing, maintaining, and reversing a Behavioral set. For this reason, such tasks may be more sensitive to Behavioral Flexibility deficits, as misleading feedback might slow learning of new responses after reversal, or increase the likelihood of reverting back to a previously reinforced and preferred response choice. A psychometric advantage is that probabilistic paradigms may be less susceptible to ceiling effects in test performance that could contribute to the failure to identify deficits in prior studies in ASD, in which all correct responses were accurately reinforced. The unpredictable and inconsistent nature of reinforcement for choice behaviors used in probabilistic tasks also corresponds more closely to the Behavioral Flexibility demands of typical day-to-day life. In the present study, individuals with ASD and matched controls performed a probabilistic reversal learning task. Performance at acquisition and at reversal was examined. The primary measures of interest were the number of trials required to learn a Behavioral response and to shift to a new response when reinforcement contingencies changed, the number of errors made after reversal when sustaining a new response over a previously preferred choice, and the number of errors made following intermittent non-reinforcement. We evaluated test performance in relation to independently ascertained clinical measures of restricted and repetitive behaviors, and other clinical features of ASD. Given reports of altered cognitive development across the lifespan in ASD (Luna, Doll, Hegedus, Minshew, & Sweeney, 2007; Solomon, Ozonoff, Cummings, & Carter, 2008), in secondary analyses we examined performance across a broad age range to identify preliminary indications of an altered trajectory in the development of Behavioral Flexibility.
-
the parafascicular thalamic nucleus concomitantly influences Behavioral Flexibility and dorsomedial striatal acetylcholine output in rats
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2010Co-Authors: Holden D Brown, Phillip M. Baker, Michael E. RagozzinoAbstract:Recent evidence suggests that a circuit involving the centromedian–parafascicular (Pf) thalamus and basal ganglia is critical for a shift away from biased actions. In particular, excitatory input from the Pf onto striatal cholinergic neurons may facilitate Behavioral Flexibility. Accumulating evidence indicates that an endogenous increase in dorsomedial striatal acetylcholine (ACh) output enhances Behavioral Flexibility. The present experiments investigated whether the rat (Rattus norvegicus) Pf supports Flexibility during reversal learning, in part, by modifying dorsomedial striatal ACh output. This was determined first by examining the effects of Pf inactivation, through infusion of the GABA agonists baclofen and muscimol, on place acquisition and reversal learning. Additional experiments examined Pf inactivation on dorsomedial striatal ACh output during reversal learning and a resting condition. Behavioral testing was performed in a cross-maze. In vivo microdialysis combined with HPLC/electrochemical detection was used to sample ACh from the dorsomedial striatum. Pf inactivation selectively impaired reversal learning in a dose-dependent manner. A subsequent study showed that an increase in dorsomedial striatal ACh efflux (∼30% above basal levels) during reversal learning was blocked by Pf inactivation, which concomitantly impaired reversal learning. In the resting condition, a dose of baclofen and muscimol that blocked a Behaviorally induced increase in dorsomedial striatal ACh output did not reduce basal ACh efflux. Together, the present findings indicate that the Pf is an intralaminar thalamic nucleus critical for Behavioral Flexibility, in part, by directly affecting striatal ACh output under conditions that require a shift in choice patterns.
-
acetylcholine activity in selective striatal regions supports Behavioral Flexibility
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2009Co-Authors: Michael E. Ragozzino, Eric G Mohler, Margaret Prior, Carlos A Palencia, Suzanne RozmanAbstract:Daily living often requires individuals to flexibly respond to new circumstances. There is considerable evidence that the striatum is part of a larger neural network that supports flexible adaptations. Cholinergic interneurons are situated to strongly influence striatal output patterns which may enable flexible adaptations. The present experiments investigated whether acetylcholine actions in different striatal regions support Behavioral Flexibility by measuring acetylcholine efflux during place reversal learning. Acetylcholine efflux selectively increased in the dorsomedial striatum, but not dorsolateral or ventromedial striatum during place reversal learning. In order to modulate the M2-class of autoreceptors, administration of oxotremorine sesquifumurate (100 nM) into the dorsomedial striatum, concomitantly impaired reversal learning and an increase in acetylcholine output. These effects were reversed by the m2 muscarinic receptor antagonist, AF-DX-116 (20 nM). The effects of oxotremorine sesquifumurate and AF-DX-116 on acetylcholine efflux were selective to Behaviorally-induced changes as neither treatment affected acetylcholine output in a resting condition. In contrast to reversal learning, acetylcholine efflux in the dorsomedial striatum did not change during place acquisition. The results reveal an essential role for cholinergic activity and define its locus of control to the dorsomedial striatum in cognitive Flexibility.
Carsten Schradin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Extinction or Survival? Behavioral Flexibility in Response to Environmental Change in the African Striped Mouse Rhabdomys
Sustainability, 2013Co-Authors: Tasmin L. Rymer, Neville Pillay, Carsten SchradinAbstract:The rapid rate of anthropogenic-related climate change is expected to severely impact ecosystems and their constituent organisms, leading to mass extinction. A rapid adaptive response of animals to such change could be due to reversible phenotypic Flexibility, including Behavioral Flexibility. Our model, the African striped mouse Rhabdomys, is a small rodent widely distributed in southern Africa. The desert-living species R. pumilio displays social Flexibility, whereby individuals switch their social organization in response to prevailing conditions, potentially allowing for persistence in rapidly changing environments. Individuals of the species from the moist grasslands (R. dilectus) show some flexible traits, but opportunities to utilize this potential are apparently not realized. The climate in southern Africa is predicted to become drier, making both desert and grassland species vulnerable to environmental change. Based on realized or potential social Flexibility in striped mice, we provide three (not mutually exclusive) scenarios that consider: (i) extinction of the desert species as its habitat changes; (ii) range expansion and utilization of pre-existing adaptations of the desert species to displace the current grassland species; and (iii) grassland species exploiting their potential Flexibility (Behavioral adaptation) and surviving in their current habitat. Behavioral Flexibility is costly but could allow species to persist in rapidly changing environments.
-
Extinction or survival ? Behavioral Flexibility in response to environmental change in the African striped mouse Rhabdomys
Sustainability, 2013Co-Authors: Tasmin Rymer, Neville Pillay, Carsten SchradinAbstract:The rapid rate of anthropogenic-related climate change is expected to severely impact ecosystems and their constituent organisms, leading to mass extinction. A rapid adaptive response of animals to such change could be due to reversible phenotypic Flexibility, including Behavioral Flexibility. Our model, the African striped mouse Rhabdomys, is a small rodent widely distributed in southern Africa. The desert-living species R. pumilio displays social Flexibility, whereby individuals switch their social organization in response to prevailing conditions, potentially allowing for persistence in rapidly changing environments. Individuals of the species from the moist grasslands (R. dilectus) show some flexible traits, but opportunities to utilize this potential are apparently not realized. The climate in southern Africa is predicted to become drier, making both desert and grassland species vulnerable to environmental change. Based on realized or potential social Flexibility in striped mice, we provide three (not mutually exclusive) scenarios that consider: (i) extinction of the desert species as its habitat changes; (ii) range expansion and utilization of pre-existing adaptations of the desert species to displace the current grassland species; and (iii) grassland species exploiting their potential Flexibility (Behavioral adaptation) and surviving in their current habitat. Behavioral Flexibility is costly but could allow species to persist in rapidly changing environments.
Corina J. Logan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Behavioral Flexibility in an invasive bird is independent of other behaviors.
PeerJ, 2016Co-Authors: Corina J. LoganAbstract:Behavioral Flexibility is considered important for a species to adapt to environmental change. However, it is unclear how Behavioral Flexibility works: it relates to problem solving ability and speed in unpredictable ways, which leaves an open question of whether Behavioral Flexibility varies with differences in other behaviors. If present, such correlations would mask which behavior causes individuals to vary. I investigated whether Behavioral Flexibility (reversal learning) performances were linked with other behaviors in great-tailed grackles, an invasive bird. I found that Behavioral Flexibility did not significantly correlate with neophobia, exploration, risk aversion, persistence, or motor diversity. This suggests that great-tailed grackle performance in Behavioral Flexibility tasks reflects a distinct source of individual variation. Maintaining multiple distinct sources of individual variation, and particularly variation in Behavioral Flexibility, may be a mechanism for coping with the diversity of novel elements in their environments and facilitate this species' invasion success.
-
Behavioral Flexibility and problem solving in an invasive bird.
PeerJ, 2016Co-Authors: Corina J. LoganAbstract:Behavioral Flexibility is considered an important trait for adapting to environmental change, but it is unclear what it is, how it works, and whether it is a problem solving ability. I investigated Behavioral Flexibility and problem solving experimentally in great-tailed grackles, an invasive bird species and thus a likely candidate for possessing Behavioral Flexibility. Grackles demonstrated Behavioral Flexibility in two contexts, the Aesop's Fable paradigm and a color association test. Contrary to predictions, Behavioral Flexibility did not correlate across contexts. Four out of 6 grackles exhibited efficient problem solving abilities, but problem solving efficiency did not appear to be directly linked with Behavioral Flexibility. Problem solving speed also did not significantly correlate with reversal learning scores, indicating that faster learners were not the most flexible. These results reveal how little we know about Behavioral Flexibility, and provide an immense opportunity for future research to explore how individuals and species can use behavior to react to changing environments.
-
Behavioral Flexibility in an invasive bird is independent of other behaviors
2016Co-Authors: Corina J. LoganAbstract:Behavioral Flexibility is considered important for a species to adapt to environmental change. Yet Behavioral Flexibility relates to problem solving ability and speed in unpredictable ways. This leaves an open question of whether Behavioral Flexibility instead varies with differences in individual behaviors, such as neophobia or exploration. If present, such correlations would mask which behavior causes individual variation. I investigated whether Behavioral Flexibility (reversal learning) performances were linked with other behaviors in great-tailed grackles, an invasive bird. I found that Behavioral Flexibility did not significantly correlate with neophobia, exploration, risk aversion, persistence, or motor diversity. This suggests that great-tailed grackle performance in Behavioral Flexibility tasks reflect a distinct source of individual variation. Maintaining multiple distinct sources of individual variation, and particularly variation in Behavioral Flexibility, may be a mechanism for this species’ invasion success by permitting populations to cope with the diversity of novel elements in their environments.
-
Behavioral Flexibility and problem solving in an invasive bird
bioRxiv, 2016Co-Authors: Corina J. LoganAbstract:Behavioral Flexibility is considered an important trait for adapting to environmental change, but it is unclear what it is, how it works, and whether it is a problem solving ability. I investigated Behavioral Flexibility and problem solving abilities experimentally in great-tailed grackles, an invasive species and thus a likely candidate for possessing Behavioral Flexibility. I found that grackles are Behaviorally flexible and good problem solvers, they vary in Behavioral Flexibility across contexts, Flexibility did not correlate with problem solving ability, and those that are more flexible did not necessarily use more learning strategies. It appears that Behavioral Flexibility can be an independent trait that varies across contexts. Maintaining such a high level of variation could be a mechanism underlying successful species invasions. These results highlight the need to investigate how individuals use behavior to react to changing environments.
-
innovation frequency does not indicate Behavioral Flexibility in great tailed grackles
bioRxiv, 2015Co-Authors: Corina J. LoganAbstract:ABSTRACT Many cross-species studies attest that innovation frequency (novel food types eaten and foraging techniques used) is a measure of Behavioral Flexibility and show that it positively correlates with relative brain size (corrected for body size). However, mixed results from the three studies that directly test the relationship between innovation frequency and Behavioral Flexibility and Behavioral Flexibility and brain size question both assumptions. I investigated Behavioral Flexibility in non-innovative great-tailed grackles that have an average sized brain, and compared their test performance with innovative, large-brained New Caledonian crows. Contrary to the prediction, grackles perform similarly to crows in experiments using clear tubes partially filled with water and containing a floating food reward, where objects must be dropped into the tube to raise the water level, bringing the food within reach. Similarly to crows, 4 out of 6 grackles preferred to drop the more functional heavy (rather than light) objects, and 2 changed their preference in a follow up experiment where the heavy objects were no longer functional, thus exhibiting Behavioral Flexibility. These results challenge the assumption that innovation frequency indicates Behavioral Flexibility since a non-innovative bird demonstrated Behavioral Flexibility at a level similar to that in innovative crows, and they challenge the assumption that only large brains are capable of Behavioral Flexibility because a bird with an average brain size solved problems similarly to large-brained crows.
Stan B. Floresco - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, 2015Co-Authors: Anne Marie Brady, Stan B. FlorescoAbstract:Executive functions consist of multiple high-level cognitive processes that drive rule generation and Behavioral selection. An emergent property of these processes is the ability to adjust behavior in response to changes in one’s environment (i.e., Behavioral Flexibility). These processes are essential to normal human behavior, and may be disrupted in diverse neuropsychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, alcoholism, depression, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding of the neurobiology of executive functions has been greatly advanced by the availability of animal tasks for assessing discrete components of Behavioral Flexibility, particularly strategy shifting and reversal learning. While several types of tasks have been developed, most are non-automated, labor intensive, and allow testing of only one animal at a time. The recent development of automated, operant-based tasks for assessing Behavioral Flexibility streamlines testing, standardizes stimulus presentation and data recording, and dramatically improves throughput. Here, we describe automated strategy shifting and reversal tasks, using operant chambers controlled by custom written software programs. Using these tasks, we have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex governs strategy shifting but not reversal learning in the rat, similar to the dissociation observed in humans. Moreover, animals with a neonatal hippocampal lesion, a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia, are selectively impaired on the strategy shifting task but not the reversal task. The strategy shifting task also allows the identification of separate types of performance errors, each of which is attributable to distinct neural substrates. The availability of these automated tasks, and the evidence supporting the dissociable contributions of separate prefrontal areas, makes them particularly well-suited assays for the investigation of basic neurobiological processes as well as drug discovery and screening in disease models.
-
Blockade of NMDA GluN2B receptors selectively impairs Behavioral Flexibility but not initial discrimination learning.
Psychopharmacology, 2011Co-Authors: Gemma L. Dalton, Anthony G. Phillips, Stan B. FlorescoAbstract:Rationale Behavioral Flexibility is the ability to adjust behavior when environmental contingencies change and is compromised in disease states such as schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and following damage to the prefrontal cortex.
-
Ventral striatal dopamine modulation of different forms of Behavioral Flexibility.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2009Co-Authors: Desirae M. Haluk, Stan B. FlorescoAbstract:Different forms of Behavioral Flexibility are facilitated by interactions between separate regions of the prefrontal cortex and their striatal outputs. However, the contribution of ventral striatal dopamine (DA) to these functions is unclear. The present study assessed the involvement of DA receptors in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core on either between- or within-strategy shifts using operant chamber-based tasks. Strategy set-shifting required rats initially to learn a visual-cue discrimination and, on the following day, shift to using an egocentric spatial response strategy to obtain reward. For reversal learning, rats were initially trained on a response discrimination and then required to select the opposite lever to receive food reward. Intra-NAc microinfusions of D1 (SCH23390) but not D2 (eticlopride) receptor antagonists impaired set-shifting, disrupting the maintenance of a new strategy. Conversely, supranormal activation of D2 (quinpirole) but not D1 (SKF81297) receptors also impaired set-shifting, inducing perseverative deficits. However, only infusions of the D2 agonist impaired reversal learning, but did so without disrupting initial response learning. Thus, mesoaccumbens DA, acting on D1 receptors, selectively facilitates complex forms of Flexibility requiring shifts between different strategies, but does not appear to contribute to simpler forms of Flexibility entailing shifts of specific stimulus–reward associations. In contrast, abnormal increases in D2 receptor activity cause a more general impairment in Behavioral Flexibility. These findings suggest that deficits in these forms of executive functioning observed in disorders linked to dysfunction of the DA system may be attributable in part to aberrant increases or decreases in mesoaccumbens DA activity.
-
Neural circuits subserving Behavioral Flexibility and their relevance to schizophrenia.
Behavioural brain research, 2008Co-Authors: Stan B. Floresco, Ying Zhang, Takeshi EnomotoAbstract:Impairments in different forms of Behavioral Flexibility, such as set-shifting and reversal learning, are some of the most reliable cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia, and have been attributed to a disruption in frontal lobe functioning. However, recent animal studies have highlighted the distinct functional roles that different subcortical systems interconnected with the prefrontal cortex (PFC) play in different forms of Behavioral Flexibility. This suggests that dysfunction in these circuits also contribute to the cognitive impairments in these processes observed in schizophrenia. The present review summarizes findings from studies that utilize or rodent studies rodents to elucidate the dissociable contributions that prefrontal cortical, striatal, thalamic and dopaminergic systems make to different component processes of Behavioral Flexibility, with an emphasis on set-shifting functions mediated by the medial PFC. We also review recent work investigating how different manipulations thought to model certain aspects of schizophrenia affect set-shifting and reversal learning. Lastly, we report novel data describing the effects of subchronic ketamine exposure on these forms of Flexibility. Ketamine treatment reduced perseverative tendencies during set-shifting, but impaired reversal learning, suggesting a complex disruption of neural circuits related to the nucleus accumbens shell and orbitofrontal cortex. Viewed collectively, these findings further our understanding of how certain neural abnormalities observed in the schizophrenic brain may relate to impairments in Behavioral Flexibility. This information may facilitate the development of animal models that resemble the complex disruptions in neural circuitry observed in schizophrenia, which would aid in the discovery of novel targeted pharmacotheraputic approaches to ameliorate cognitive dysfunction linked to these circuits.
-
Alterations in Behavioral Flexibility by cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists and antagonists
Psychopharmacology, 2006Co-Authors: Matthew N. Hill, Anna C. Morrish, Larissa M. Froese, Stan B. FlorescoAbstract:Rationale Cannabinoid CB1 receptors are expressed in the prefrontal cortex, but their role in mediating executive functions such as Behavioral Flexibility is unclear.