Visual cognition of birds and its underlying neural mechanism: A review

Niu, Xiaoke; Jiang, Zhenyang; Peng, Yanyan; Huang, Shuman; Wang, Zhizhong; Shi, Li

doi:10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100023

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…Although avian brains contain a much smaller cerebellum and no neocortex (Krazulis et al, 2018), how their brains support selective attention, and potentially the learning-dependent modulation thereof, are remarkably similar. In birds, visual information flows along two main pathways that are homologous to the dorsal and ventral stream in mammals (Niu et al, 2022), and visual selection is handled in the forebrain through the arcopallial gaze field (Winkowski & Knudsen, 2007; which is analogous to the frontal eye field in primates (Squier et al, 2013). Similar to primates, birds also learn through dopamine-mediated reward prediction errors (Cook et al, 2013;Güntürkün et al 2018;Schultz, 2016;Soto & Wasserman, 2001), which enables them to focus their attention on relevant features (Watanabe, 1992;2003;Knudsen, 2018;Krazulis et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

et al. 2023

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Attention can be biased towards previously reward-associated stimuli even when they are taskirrelevant and physically non-salient, although studies of reward-modulated attention have been largely limited to primate (including human and nonhuman) models. Birds have been shown to have the capacity to discriminate reward and spatial cues in a manner similar to primates, but whether reward history involuntarily affects their attention in the same way remains unclear. We adapted a spatial cueing paradigm with differential rewards to investigate how reward modulates the allocation of attention in peafowl (Pavo cristatus). The birds were required to locate and peck a target on a computer screen that was preceded by a high-value or low-value color cue. The location of the color cue did not reliably predict the target location. All birds exhibited a validity effect (performance enhanced on valid compared to invalid cue), and an interaction effect between value and validity was evident at the group level, being particularly pronounced in the birds with the greatest amount of reward training. The time course of reward learning was conspicuously incremental, phenomenologically slower compared to primates. Our findings suggest a similar influence of reward history on attention across phylogeny despite a significant difference in neuroanatomy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

et al. 2023

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“…Individual differences in the number of times pullets look down at the edge of the visual cliff to gather information prior to crossing, latency to cross the visual cliff, latency to exit the Y-maze, and choice of Y-maze exit arm have been reported ( Jones, 2021 ). These tasks require pullets to estimate depth and distance, which is commonly associated with visual pathways that link multiple visual cognition regions of the avian brain (including the nidopallium caudolaterale region, NCL; Niu et al, 2022 ). Recent research found that the hippocampus is also involved in avian visual cognition through its connection to the NCL ( Niu et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These tasks require pullets to estimate depth and distance, which is commonly associated with visual pathways that link multiple visual cognition regions of the avian brain (including the nidopallium caudolaterale region, NCL; Niu et al, 2022 ). Recent research found that the hippocampus is also involved in avian visual cognition through its connection to the NCL ( Niu et al, 2022 ). The hippocampus forms memories from visual perception of the environment that can be retrieved later to distinguish spatial stimuli and determine distances in spatial tasks ( Lee et al, 2012 ; Theves et al, 2019 ; Yang and Naya, 2020 ; Treder et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Providing height to pullets does not influence hippocampal dendritic morphology or brain-derived neurotrophic factor at the end of the rearing period

Pullin¹,

Farrar²,

Loxterkamp³

et al. 2022

Poultry Science

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The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates

Zacks,

Jablonka

2023

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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The Global Neuronal Workspace theory of consciousness offers an explicit functional architecture that relates consciousness to cognitive abilities such as perception, attention, memory, and evaluation. We show that the functional architecture of the Global Neuronal Workspace, which is based mainly on human studies, corresponds to the cognitive-affective architecture proposed by the Unlimited Associative Learning theory that describes minimal consciousness. However, we suggest that when applied to basal vertebrates, both models require important modifications to accommodate what has been learned about the evolution of the vertebrate brain. Most importantly, comparative studies suggest that in basal vertebrates, the Global Neuronal Workspace is instantiated by the event memory system found in the hippocampal homolog. This proposal has testable predictions and implications for understanding hippocampal and cortical functions, the evolutionary relations between memory and consciousness, and the evolution of unified perception.

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Visual cognition of birds and its underlying neural mechanism: A review

Cited by 6 publications

References 117 publications

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

Providing height to pullets does not influence hippocampal dendritic morphology or brain-derived neurotrophic factor at the end of the rearing period

The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates

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