Studying Embodied Decisions in the Wild and in the Lab

Gordon, Jeremy; Lancia, Gian Luca; Eluchans, Mattia; Maselli, Antonella; Thiery, Thomas; Cisek, Paul; Pezzulo, Giovanni

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08629-8_15

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Frequently, such studies simulate foraging decisions in ways that require relatively little movement from subjects. However, when foraging depends on locomotion and navigation-as it frequently does in natural settings-the neural circuits that subserve such processes effectively become a part of the foraging system (Gordon et al, 2021(Gordon et al, , 2022. This means that while the computational goal of efficient foraging may be the same across topologically-equivalent behavioral tasks, its neural implementation may well be different.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, laboratory studies of foraging are frequently conducted in operant boxes or other situations where subjects' movements are relatively constrained. This difference may be consequential; when foraging requires movement between distinct locations, the parts of the brain responsible for spatial processing effectively become a part of the foraging system (Gordon et al, 2021(Gordon et al, , 2022. This means that while the computational goal of efficient foraging may be the same across topologically-equivalent behavioral tasks, its neural underpinnings may well differ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

Garcia

Gupta

Wikenheiser

2023

Preprint

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The ubiquity, importance, and sophistication of foraging behavior makes it an ideal platform for studying naturalistic decision making in animals. We developed a spatial patch-foraging task for rats, in which subjects chose how long to remain in one foraging patch as the rate of food earnings steadily decreased. The cost of seeking out a new location was varied across sessions. The behavioral task was designed to mimic the structure of natural foraging problems, where distinct spatial locations are associated with different reward statistics, and decisions require navigation and movement through space. Male and female rats generally followed the predictions of theoretical models of foraging, albeit with a consistent tendency to persist with patches for too long compared with behavioral strategies that maximize food intake rate. The tendency to choose overly-long patch residence times was stronger in male rats. We also observed sex differences in locomotion as rats performed the task, but these differences in movement only partially accounted for the differences in patch residence durations observed between male and female rats. Together, these results suggest a nuanced relationship between movement, sex, and foraging decisions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

Garcia

Gupta

Wikenheiser

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, laboratory studies of foraging are frequently conducted in operant boxes or other situations where subjects’ movements are relatively constrained. This difference may be consequential; when foraging requires movement between distinct locations, the parts of the brain responsible for spatial processing effectively become a part of the foraging system [ 25 , 26 ]. This means that while the computational goal of efficient foraging may be the same across topologically-equivalent behavioral tasks, its neural underpinnings may well differ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

Garcia,

Gupta,

Wikenheiser

2023

Oxford Open Neuroscience

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The ubiquity, importance, and sophistication of foraging behavior makes it an ideal platform for studying naturalistic decision making in animals. We developed a spatial patch-foraging task for rats, in which subjects chose how long to remain in one foraging patch as the rate of food earnings steadily decreased. The cost of seeking out a new location was varied across sessions. The behavioral task was designed to mimic the structure of natural foraging problems, where distinct spatial locations are associated with different reward statistics, and decisions require navigation and movement through space. Male and female Long-Evans rats generally followed the predictions of theoretical models of foraging, albeit with a consistent tendency to persist with patches for too long compared to behavioral strategies that maximize food intake rate. The tendency to choose overly-long patch residence times was stronger in male rats. We also observed sex differences in locomotion as rats performed the task, but these differences in movement only partially accounted for the differences in patch residence durations observed between male and female rats. Together, these results suggest a nuanced relationship between movement, sex, and foraging decisions.

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Studying Embodied Decisions in the Wild and in the Lab

Cited by 2 publications

References 43 publications

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

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