The structure of individual differences in batteries of rapid acquisition tasks in mice.

Locurto, Charles; Benoit, Andrea; Crowley, Caitlin; Miele, Andrea S.

doi:10.1037/0735-7036.120.4.378

Cited by 30 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Since the time of that initial report, similar results have been obtained with mice tested on as many as nine learning tasks (Matzel et al, 2008) and in other laboratories (Galsworthy et al, 2005; Locurto et al, 2006). All of these observations reveal one cause influencing the variation in many different learning abilities, analogous to the network of the cause of variation in human intelligence (Jensen, 1998; see Kolata et al, 2008, for a structural analysis based on observations of 250 + mice).…”

Section: Lessons Applied To Studies Of Learning and Behavior: The Cassupporting

confidence: 67%

The causes of variation in learning and behavior: why individual differences matter

Sauce¹,

Matzel²

2013

Front. Psychol.

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In a seminal paper written five decades ago, Cronbach discussed the two highly distinct approaches to scientific psychology: experimental and correlational. Today, although these two approaches are fruitfully implemented and embraced across some fields of psychology, this synergy is largely absent from other areas, such as in the study of learning and behavior. Both Tolman and Hull, in a rare case of agreement, stated that the correlational approach held little promise for the understanding of behavior. Interestingly, this dismissal of the study of individual differences was absent in the biologically oriented branches of behavior analysis, namely, behavioral genetics and ethology. Here we propose that the distinction between “causation” and “causes of variation” (with its origins in the field of genetics) reveals the potential value of the correlational approach in understanding the full complexity of learning and behavior. Although the experimental approach can illuminate the causal variables that modulate learning, the analysis of individual differences can elucidate how much and in which way variables interact to support variations in learning in complex natural environments. For example, understanding that a past experience with a stimulus influences its “associability” provides little insight into how individual predispositions interact to modulate this influence on associability. In this “new” light, we discuss examples from studies of individual differences in animals’ performance in the Morris water maze and from our own work on individual differences in general intelligence in mice. These studies illustrate that, opposed to what Underwood famously suggested, studies of individual differences can do much more to psychology than merely providing preliminary indications of cause-effect relationships.

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Section: Lessons Applied To Studies Of Learning and Behavior: The Cassupporting

confidence: 67%

The causes of variation in learning and behavior: why individual differences matter

Sauce¹,

Matzel²

2013

Front. Psychol.

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“…A mouse swimming version of this maze was found to correlate with performance on other water-motivated tasks, including the Morris water maze (Locurto and Scanlon, 1998). The Hebb-Williams maze has been utilized successfully to evaluate cognitive function across different strains of mice (Galsworthy et al, 2002; Galsworthy et al, 2005), individual differences in mice (Locurto et al, 2003; Locurton et al, 2006), effects of arginine 8-vasopressin (Paban et al, 2003), transgenic mice (Coleman et al, 1999) and the effects of focal lesions of the cingulate cortex (Meunier and Destrade, 1988). However, there are several key elements that differ between the two maze tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a water-escape motivated version of the Stone T-maze for mice

Pistell

Ingram

2010

Neuroscience

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Mice provide a highly valuable resource for investigating learning and memory processes; however, many of the established tasks for evaluating learning and memory were developed for rats. Behaviors of mice in these tasks appear to be driven by different motivational factors, and as a result, they often do not perform reliably on tasks involving rewards traditionally used for rats. Because of difficulties in measuring learning and memory in mice as well as the need to have a task that can reliably measure these behavioral processes, we have developed a mouse version of the Stone T-maze utilizing what appears to be the primary motivation of mice, escape to a safe location. Specifically, we have constructed a task that requires the mouse to wade through water to reach a dark and dry goal box. To escape this aversive environment, the Stone T-maze requires learning the correct sequence of 13 left and right turns to reach the goal box. Through a series of experiments examining a variety of protocols, it was found that mice will reliably perform this task. This task can be used to assess learning and memory without the potential performance confounds that can affect performance of mice in other tasks. We believe this task offers a valuable new tool for evaluating learning and memory in mice not previously available to researchers.

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“…One solution is to use several tasks measuring the same cognitive trait (Kamil, ), but targeting different perceptual systems (e.g. auditory and visual, Herrmann et al ., ; olfactory and visual, Locurto et al ., ), and requiring different motor actions for completion (Matzel et al ., ). Positive correlations across these tasks would suggest that inter‐individual variance in performance is unlikely to be affected by these biases, and is therefore a useful validation step when designing a cognitive assay.…”

Section: Measuring Individual Variation In Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Studying the evolutionary ecology of cognition in the wild: a review of practical and conceptual challenges

2015

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Cognition is defined as the processes by which animals collect, retain and use information from their environment to guide their behaviour. Thus cognition is essential in a wide range of behaviours, including foraging, avoiding predators and mating. Despite this pivotal role, the evolutionary processes shaping variation in cognitive performance among individuals in wild populations remain very poorly understood. Selection experiments in captivity suggest that cognitive traits can have substantial heritability and can undergo rapid evolution. However only a handful of studies have attempted to explore how cognition influences life-history variation and fitness in the wild, and direct evidence for the action of natural or sexual selection on cognition is still lacking, reasons for which are diverse. Here we review the current literature with a view to: (i) highlighting the key practical and conceptual challenges faced by the field; (ii) describing how to define and measure cognitive traits in natural populations, and suggesting which species, populations and cognitive traits might be examined to greatest effect; emphasis is placed on selecting traits that are linked to functional behaviour; (iii) discussing how to deal with confounding factors such as personality and motivation in field as well as captive studies; (iv) describing how to measure and interpret relationships between cognitive performance, functional behaviour and fitness, offering some suggestions as to when and what kind of selection might be predicted; and (v) showing how an evolutionary ecological framework, more generally, along with innovative technologies has the potential to revolutionise the study of cognition in the wild. We conclude that the evolutionary ecology of cognition in wild populations is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field providing many opportunities for advancing the understanding of how cognitive abilities have evolved.

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The structure of individual differences in batteries of rapid acquisition tasks in mice.

Cited by 30 publications

References 24 publications

The causes of variation in learning and behavior: why individual differences matter

The causes of variation in learning and behavior: why individual differences matter

Development of a water-escape motivated version of the Stone T-maze for mice

Studying the evolutionary ecology of cognition in the wild: a review of practical and conceptual challenges

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