Selection of Laboratory Mice for the High Scores of Logic Task Solutions: The Correlated Changes in Behavior

Abstract

Genetically heterogenous mouse population served as the basis for experiment designed to select mice for the high levels of extrapolation ability. Extrapolation task (which belongs to the category of cognitive tasks) was the following: hungry and thirsty mouse was placed in the experimental box facing the cup with milk which could be reached via the small opening in the frontal wall. After several seconds of drinking the food moved behind this wall to the right or to the left and disappeared from animal view. Mouse can find the food only if it moves in the direction of food movement. The direction could be chosen at random or based on animal apprehension of elementary logic of this task. Mice were selected not only for high scores of this task solution but also for lack of anxiety signs during test performance. Extrapolation task scores in selected strain mice were above the chance levels in F9 but non-significantly different from those of control unselected mouse population. The performance of F9 mice in the "puzzle box" cognitive test, based on animal tendency to avoid the brightly lit area in the dark compartment with increasing "difficulty" of reaching this compartment, was measured as mean escape latencies of the respective group. The latencies of mice from selected strain were significantly shorter than those of control animals. This fact is interpreted as the sign that the selection for one cognitive trait (yet still not efficient) resulted in positive changes in the ability to solve another cognitive task. The relationship of cognitive task solutions success and anxiety behavior scores in F9 is discussed.

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“…Mice tested in this experiment belonged to F28, when the selection was discontinued for seven generations. Previously, it was demonstrated that SB mice (in all three replications of brain weight selection experiments) were consistently more fearful than LB animals (see Perepelkina et al, 2014). Thus, they presumably would be more eager to escape into the safe dark compartment, while the less fearful LB mice were more successful in the puzzle-box test performance.…”

“…The puzzle box test (for details see Ben-Abdallah et al, 2011;Perepelkina et al, 2014), is a modified version of the "Light-Dark" test, in which an animal is placed into the brightly lit part of a box and must find the way to escape into the darkness; the route to the dark compartment (goal box) was via an underpass (4 x 2 x 15 cm) 2 (see Fig. 9).…”