27 posts · 5,481 views
Understanding the neural basis of behavior in an ecological context.
neuroecology
27 posts
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- May 30, 2013
- 12:09 PM
- 49 views
Mechanisms of collective decision-making in bees
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Thomas Seeley gave a talk yesterday about how honeybees collectively decide on a new home, and how they use the evidence accumulation/drift-diffusion model to make decisions! When bees are ready to start a new colony, they’ll find somewhere to hang out and swarm. Foragers will then periodically wander off to try to find a good […]... Read more »
Griffin, S., Smith, M., & Seeley, T. (2012) Do honeybees use the directional information in round dances to find nearby food sources?. Animal Behaviour, 83(6), 1319-1324. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.03.003
Seeley, T., Visscher, P., Schlegel, T., Hogan, P., Franks, N., & Marshall, J. (2011) Stop Signals Provide Cross Inhibition in Collective Decision-Making by Honeybee Swarms. Science, 335(6064), 108-111. DOI: 10.1126/science.1210361
- May 29, 2013
- 01:45 PM
- 63 views
Decision Theory Journal Club: The failure of rationality when foraging
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When an animal forages for food, it leaves it current location for what it hopes is a better locale. We like to believe that this foraging decision is made when the animal expects to get more food if it leaves than if it stays. Simple and obvious, right? Unfortunately for our intuition, this doesn’t seem […]... Read more »
Wikenheiser, A., Stephens, D., & Redish, A. (2013) Subjective costs drive overly patient foraging strategies in rats on an intertemporal foraging task. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(20), 8308-8313. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1220738110
- May 22, 2013
- 01:01 PM
- 66 views
Decision Theory Journal Club: Our brains are perfect machines
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
A few of us have started a Decision Theory journal club where we plan on reading papers from a variety of fields that examine how decisions are made. We have people from neuroscience, economics, and cognitive science participating (so far), including people participating through Google+ hangouts!, which will hopefully make lead to some productive discussions. […]... Read more »
Brunton, B., Botvinick, M., & Brody, C. (2013) Rats and Humans Can Optimally Accumulate Evidence for Decision-Making. Science, 340(6128), 95-98. DOI: 10.1126/science.1233912
Znamenskiy, P., & Zador, A. (2013) Corticostriatal neurons in auditory cortex drive decisions during auditory discrimination. Nature, 497(7450), 482-485. DOI: 10.1038/nature12077
- May 15, 2013
- 01:12 PM
- 66 views
You are what you eat – wait, no, you eat what you are. Wait, that’s not it…
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
The public will never tire of the nature versus nurture debate but here’s a hint: the answer in biology is always both. But if you’ve ever known any twins, you know they can have quite different personalities which, you would think, are attributable to differences in nurture of one sort or another. To understand this better, some scientists […]... Read more »
Freund, J., Brandmaier, A., Lewejohann, L., Kirste, I., Kritzler, M., Kruger, A., Sachser, N., Lindenberger, U., & Kempermann, G. (2013) Emergence of Individuality in Genetically Identical Mice. Science, 340(6133), 756-759. DOI: 10.1126/science.1235294
- May 6, 2013
- 09:44 AM
- 80 views
The young and the restless
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
It struck me recently that one of the key differences between economists and neuroscientists studying decision-making is their interest in dynamics. Economists seem more interested in explaining how behavior operates (or should operate) on average whereas neuroscientists would like to explain trial-to-trial variability. Decisions are rarely made just once in a lifetime, but are instead made repeatedly. [...]... Read more »
Hampton, A., Bossaerts, P., & O'Doherty, J. (2008) Neural correlates of mentalizing-related computations during strategic interactions in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(18), 6741-6746. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0711099105
Zhu, L., Walsh, D., & Hsu, M. (2012) Neuroeconomic Measures of Social Decision-Making Across the Lifespan. Frontiers in Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2012.00128
- May 2, 2013
- 05:39 PM
- 87 views
Jumping off of bridges
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
No man is an island, entire of itself. Although we like to think of our decisions occurring in a vacuum, in reality we’re bombarded with information on how other people are deciding all the time. It would be shocking if our decisions weren’t influenced by the behavior of other people – and, obviously, a wide range [...]... Read more »
Wolf, M., Kurvers, R., Ward, A., Krause, S., & Krause, J. (2013) Accurate decisions in an uncertain world: collective cognition increases true positives while decreasing false positives. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1756), 20122777-20122777. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2777
- April 24, 2013
- 02:41 PM
- 85 views
Vision is for decision
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When we typically think of how decision-making works in the brain, we think of new input coming in, perhaps through the eyes or ears, being processed in the relevant sensory areas, and then sent to the ‘decision-making’ areas (the basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, or anterior cingulate cortex) where this information is used to make a decision. [...]... Read more »
Chubykin, A., Roach, E., Bear, M., & Shuler, M. (2013) A Cholinergic Mechanism for Reward Timing within Primary Visual Cortex. Neuron, 77(4), 723-735. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.12.039
- March 21, 2013
- 04:17 PM
- 35 views
Image ALL the neurons!
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
So you want to image every neuron in the brain of a vertebrate? What kind of crazy man are you? Misha B. Ahrens, that’s who. In what can only be described as a “crazy awesome” experiment, Ahrens used a technique that’s been recently emerging called light sheet microscopy to image the activity of (nearly) every neuron [...]... Read more »
Ahrens, M., & Keller, P. (2013) Whole-brain functional imaging at cellular resolution using light-sheet microscopy. Nature Methods. DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.2434
- March 18, 2013
- 11:08 AM
- 39 views
Neuroscience is useful: NBA edition
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Although I wasn’t able to attend it, Yonatan Loewenstein apparently gave a talk at a Cosyne workshop about decision-making and related it to NBA players. I was curious to find the paper and while ultimately I could not, I did find that he had a different one that was interesting. One of the most commonly used [...]... Read more »
Neiman, T., & Loewenstein, Y. (2011) Reinforcement learning in professional basketball players. Nature Communications, 569. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1580
- January 30, 2013
- 02:13 PM
- 171 views
Never make a decision on an empty stomach… or a full stomach…
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
You are hungry already and dinner is hours away. You’re getting irritable and making stupid decisions that you normally wouldn’t. Or maybe you just had a big meal and you’re sated. Your friend who is seated next to you turns and asks for a favor; you pleasantly agree and sink into your chair sleepily. What’s [...]... Read more »
Burghardt, P., Love, T., Stohler, C., Hodgkinson, C., Shen, P., Enoch, M., Goldman, D., & Zubieta, J. (2012) Leptin Regulates Dopamine Responses to Sustained Stress in Humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(44), 15369-15376. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2521-12.2012
Cocker, P., Dinelle, K., Kornelson, R., Sossi, V., & Winstanley, C. (2012) Irrational Choice under Uncertainty Correlates with Lower Striatal D2/3 Receptor Binding in Rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(44), 15450-15457. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0626-12.2012
Dunn, J., Kessler, R., Feurer, I., Volkow, N., Patterson, B., Ansari, M., Li, R., Marks-Shulman, P., & Abumrad, N. (2012) Relationship of Dopamine Type 2 Receptor Binding Potential With Fasting Neuroendocrine Hormones and Insulin Sensitivity in Human Obesity. Diabetes Care, 35(5), 1105-1111. DOI: 10.2337/dc11-2250
- January 24, 2013
- 01:02 PM
- 138 views
A mechanics of depression
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
There are many reactions that can be taken in response to the world going crazy on you, and depression is one of these. Even though it is (rightly) seen as perhaps not the greatest illness to have, there is a case to be made that depression is an energetically-efficient response to overwhelming stress; it can [...]... Read more »
Chaudhury, D., Walsh, J., Friedman, A., Juarez, B., Ku, S., Koo, J., Ferguson, D., Tsai, H., Pomeranz, L., Christoffel, D.... (2012) Rapid regulation of depression-related behaviours by control of midbrain dopamine neurons. Nature, 493(7433), 532-536. DOI: 10.1038/nature11713
Tye, K., Mirzabekov, J., Warden, M., Ferenczi, E., Tsai, H., Finkelstein, J., Kim, S., Adhikari, A., Thompson, K., Andalman, A.... (2012) Dopamine neurons modulate neural encoding and expression of depression-related behaviour. Nature, 493(7433), 537-541. DOI: 10.1038/nature11740
Warden, M., Selimbeyoglu, A., Mirzabekov, J., Lo, M., Thompson, K., Kim, S., Adhikari, A., Tye, K., Frank, L., & Deisseroth, K. (2012) A prefrontal cortex–brainstem neuronal projection that controls response to behavioural challenge. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11617
Amat, J., Baratta, M., Paul, E., Bland, S., Watkins, L., & Maier, S. (2005) Medial prefrontal cortex determines how stressor controllability affects behavior and dorsal raphe nucleus. Nature Neuroscience, 8(3), 365-371. DOI: 10.1038/nn1399
- January 14, 2013
- 01:55 PM
- 172 views
The in-between of nature and nurture
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
There’s a debate that never seems to die down, and it’s one of nature versus nurture. It’s a bit of a silly debate because the answer in every debate is (almost) always “both”, but it does seem to get a lot of play. And it’s even sillier when you realize that one can ask the question about [...]... Read more »
Riffell, J., Lei, H., Abrell, L., & Hildebrand, J. (2012) Neural Basis of a Pollinator's Buffet: Olfactory Specialization and Learning in Manduca sexta. Science, 339(6116), 200-204. DOI: 10.1126/science.1225483
- September 26, 2012
- 09:39 AM
- 188 views
Round 1: FIGHT
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
I don’t know about you, but when I was in High School, I was treated to a close-up of more than a few fights (none including me, of course). If you’d asked me, if those fights were totally random I probably would have said no: the two guys – and it was almost always guys [...]... Read more »
Daniels BC, Krakauer DC, & Flack JC. (2012) Sparse code of conflict in a primate society. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1203021109
- September 24, 2012
- 11:36 AM
- 202 views
Individuals, groups, and decisions
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Imagine buying something from a friend: do you think you’d give him a better or worse offer than you’d give a stranger? Would you buy something you might not normally want if pressured into it by a friend? The thing is, our preferences and decisions aren’t consistent from moment to moment, they’re always changing. One [...]... Read more »
G Charness, & M Sutter. (2012) Groups make better self-interested decisions. Journal of Economic Perspectives. DOI: 10.1257/jep.26.3.157
Rand DG, Greene JD, & Nowak MA. (2012) Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature, 489(7416), 427-30. PMID: 22996558
- September 13, 2012
- 03:51 PM
- 207 views
You eat what you are
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Following up on my recent post on scientists trawling the silk road in search of taste receptor variants, there’s serendipitous news out that a set of polymorphisms have been found that determines whether you think cilantro tastes like soap or like heaven! Our good friends at 23andme analyzed their database of users who responded to [...]... Read more »
Nicholas Eriksson,, Shirley Wu,, Chuong B. Do,, Amy K. Kiefer,, Joyce Y. Tung,, Joanna L. Mountain,, David A. Hinds,, & Uta Francke. (2012) A genetic variant near olfactory receptor genes influences cilantro preference. arxiv. info:/
- September 12, 2012
- 12:09 AM
- 225 views
The straw that broke the camel’s back
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
One of the most interesting things in neuroscience is that we find again and again that the different nervous systems come up with the same solutions to related problems. Take the ability to make a decision – something that is about as basic and fundamental as you get, while needing to be applied to all [...]... Read more »
Stevenson PA, & Rillich J. (2012) The decision to fight or flee - insights into underlying mechanism in crickets. Frontiers in neuroscience, 118. PMID: 22936896
- August 1, 2012
- 02:28 PM
- 304 views
Testosterone and social aggression
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Testosterone will probably always be linked in people’s minds with aggressive behaviors, but its role in behavior is a source of controversy. Why it rises when it does – and whether it causes aggression or merely responds to it – is not clear, although recent studies that directly inject testosterone into an animal has begun [...]... Read more »
Rosvall KA, Bergeon Burns CM, Barske J, Goodson JL, Schlinger BA, Sengelaub DR, & Ketterson ED. (2012) Neural sensitivity to sex steroids predicts individual differences in aggression: implications for behavioural evolution. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 279(1742), 3547-55. PMID: 22673360
Vergara P, & Martínez-Padilla J. (2012) Social context decouples the relationship between a sexual ornament and testosterone levels in a male wild bird. Hormones and behavior. PMID: 22841824
KA Rosvall, DG Reichard, SM Ferguson, DJ Whittaker, & ED Ketterson. (2012) Robust behavioral effects of song playback in the absence of testosterone or corticosterone release. Hormones and Behavior. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.07.009
- July 18, 2012
- 03:07 PM
- 304 views
The best way to extort an extortionist is to be fair
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
One of the favorite games to study cooperation is the iterated prisoner’s dilemma. It is a game that lets players cooperate or defect, with the most beneficial strategy overall being both cooperating, but the best for a single player is to defect while the other player cooperates. The most famously successful strategy is tit-for-tat: cooperate [...]... Read more »
Press WH, & Dyson FJ. (2012) Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma contains strategies that dominate any evolutionary opponent. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(26), 10409-13. PMID: 22615375
- July 13, 2012
- 01:56 PM
- 321 views
Economic incentives and social behavior
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When studying decision-making in neuroscience, experimenters like to have participants be rewarded with money – or units of juice or ‘points’ or suchlike. Although this may seem like a natural way to measure decisions, we have to step back and ask ourselves whether using this as a basis for reward will affects decision-making in anyway. [...]... Read more »
Samuel Bowles, & Sandra Polania-Reyes. (2011) Economic incentives and social preferences: substitutes or complements? . Journal of Economic Literature. DOI: 10.1257/jel.50.2.368
- July 10, 2012
- 04:29 PM
- 258 views
Learning: positive and negative
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Reward and punishment operate through two very different pathways in the human brain. The general idea is that these two types of learning – positive and negative – operate through different unique types of dopamine receptors. The D1 receptors (D1R) are generally ‘positive’ receptors, while the D2 receptors (D2R) are ‘negative’. Specifically, D1Rs generally tend [...]... Read more »
Kravitz AV, Tye LD, & Kreitzer AC. (2012) Distinct roles for direct and indirect pathway striatal neurons in reinforcement. Nature neuroscience. PMID: 22544310
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