Food wrenching and dodging: use of action patterns for the analysis of sensorimotor and social behavior in the rat

Physiology, patterns and behavior

This article endeavors to provide a useful perspective for Researchers and Authors within the realm of Behavioral Sciences, particularly those engaged in the study of Behavioral Physiology, namely the discipline focusing on the intricate interplay between physiological processes and the related behavioral manifestations. Alongside the prevailing conservatism that has characterized the progression of behavioral sciences in recent decades, it advocates for an additional approach in the study of Behavioral Physiology that revolves around a more inclusive perspective: beyond the analysis of isolated behavioral events as discrete components, akin to scattered pieces of a larger puzzle, emphasis also is placed on elucidating their interconnectedness. It is within these interrelationships that the governing constraints of behavior, whether exhibited by humans or any other species, manifest as a cohesive and functional structure.

Oppositions, joints, and targets: the attractors that are the glue of social interactions

Social interactions are often analyzed by scoring segments of predefined behavior and then statistically assessing numerical and sequential patterns to identify the structure of the encounters. However, this approach can miss the dynamics of the animals' relationship over the course of the encounter, one that often involves invariant bonds, say a nose-to-nose orientation, with many different movements performed by both partners acting to counteract each other's attempts to break or maintain the relationship. Moreover, these invariant bonds can switch from one configuration to another during an interaction, leading from one stable configuration to another. It is this stepwise sequence of configurational stabilities that lead to functional outcomes, such as mating, aggression, or predation. By focusing on the sequence of invariant relational configurations, the deep structure of interactions can be discerned. This deep structure can then be used to differentiate between compensatory movements, no matter how seemingly stereotyped they may appear, from movement patterns which are restricted to a particular form when more than one option is available. A dynamic perspective requires suitable tools for analysis, and such tools are highlighted as needed in describing particular interactions.

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

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.

Sex differences in patch-leaving foraging decisions in rats

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.

Using the 'stranger test' to assess social competency in adult female Long Evans rats reared with a Fischer 344 partner

Rats reared with limited access to a play partner during the juvenile period develop into adults with impairments in various cognitive, emotional, and social skills. The present study assesses the consequences of play deprivation on adult social skills in female Long Evans (LE) rats that were reared with a low-playing Fischer 344 rat over the juvenile period. As adults, their social skills were assessed using the stranger paradigm, by pairing the deprived LE rats with a novel LE partner in a neutral arena. While the deprived rat engages its partner in play there were alterations in key aspects of play, such as reduced pinning and a longer latency to begin playing, that suggest there are impairments in the social ability of the deprived rat. Most notable were the changes in the behaviour of the typically reared partner, a reduction in the amount of play it initiated and fewer actions that produced reciprocal and prolonged interactions. The changes in the behaviour of the normally reared partner suggest that it detected subtle changes in the play deprived LE rats. These findings support the hypothesis that peer-peer play experiences during the juvenile period are important for the development of socio-cognitive skills.

Intensive longitudinal characterization of multidimensional biobehavioral dynamics in laboratory rats

Rats have been used as animal models for human diseases for more than a century, yet a systematic understanding of basal biobehavioral phenotypes of laboratory rats is still missing. In this study, we utilize wireless tracking technology and videography, collect and analyze more than 130 billion data points to fill this gap, and characterize the evolution of behavior and physiology of group-housed male and female rats (n = 114) of the most commonly used strains (Lister Hooded, Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, and Wistar) throughout their development. The resulting intensive longitudinal data suggest the existence of strain and sex differences and bi-stable developmental states. Under standard laboratory 12-h light/12-h dark conditions, our study found the presence of multiple oscillations such as circatidal-like rhythms in locomotor activity. The overall findings further suggest that frequent movement along cage walls or thigmotaxic activity may be a physical feature of motion in constrained spaces, critically affecting the interpretation of basal behavior of rats in cages.

The Life of Behavior

Neuroscience needs behavior. However, it is daunting to render the behavior of organisms intelligible without suppressing most, if not all, references to life. When animals are treated as passive stimulus-response, disembodied and identical machines, the life of behavior perishes. Here, we distill three biological principles (materiality, agency, and historicity), spell out their consequences for the study of animal behavior, and illustrate them with various examples from the literature. We propose to put behavior back into context, with the brain in a species-typical body and with the animal's body situated in the world; stamp Newtonian time with nested ontogenetic and phylogenetic processes that give rise to individuals with their own histories; and supplement linear cause-and-effect chains and information processing with circular loops of purpose and meaning. We believe that conceiving behavior in these ways is imperative for neuroscience.

Unilateral lesions of the dorsocentral striatum (DCS) disrupt spatial and temporal characteristics of food protection behavior

Spatial and temporal information processing provide a foundation for higher cognitive functions. The survival of animals depends on integrating spatial and temporal information to organize behavior. In general, previous research has focused on only one source of information processing; however, there is evidence to support a convergence in the processing of egocentric-spatial and temporal information within a cortico-striatal system of structures. The current study evaluated the contributions of the dorsocentral striatum (DCS) to egocentric-spatial and temporal (within the seconds-to-minutes range) processing of information using a food protection task. Long-Evans rats received unilateral NMDA lesions of the DCS followed by testing in a food protection task. Performance in this task is mediated by the motivation of the animal to consume a food item, their perception of the time required to consume a food item, their sensory ability to process egocentric cues, and their motor ability to evade an incoming conspecific. Unilateral DCS lesions were shown to impact both spatial and temporal characteristics of food protection. These results suggest that the DCS may be a critical structure for the integration of egocentric-spatial and temporal information within the interval timing range.

Closing the circle between perceptions and behavior: a cybernetic view of behavior and its consequences for studying motivation and development

The dynamic aspect of behavior is exaggerated during social interactions such as sex, combat and rough-and-tumble play where the movements of the two animals involved continually influence one another. The behavioral 'markers' abstracted from this stream can greatly influence the conclusions drawn about the effects of experimental procedures and how changes during development are interpreted. By using methods of analysis that treat behaving systems as being dynamic and governed by negative feedback processes, the behavioral markers that are abstracted can more accurately reflect the underlying mechanisms. Using examples from rats engaged in play fighting, serious fighting and food defense, it is shown that motivational from non-motivational contributions to behavioral output and changes in that output with age can be discerned. For example, while sex differences in the frequency of initiating play by juvenile rats are shown to reflect differences in the motivation to engage in this behavior, sex differences in preferred motor patterns used during play do not. Rather, they reflect differences in perceptual and motor systems. Although an issue that is often neglected, we show that behavioral description, and the theoretical underpinnings of that description, is critical for the study of the mechanisms that produce and regulate behavior.

A mobility gradient in the organization of vertebrate movement: The perception of movement through symbolic language

Ordinary language can prevent us from seeing the organization of whole-animal movement. This may be why the search for behavioral homologies has not been as fruitful as the founders of ethology had hoped. The Eshkol-Wachman (EW) movement notational system can reveal shared movement patterns that are undetectable in the kinds of informal verbal descriptions of the same behaviors that are in current use. Rules of organization that are common to locomotor development, agonistic and exploratory behavior, scent marking, play, and dopaminergic drug-induced stereotypies in a variety of vertebrates suggest that behavior progresses along a “mobility gradient” from immobility to increasing complexity and unpredictability. A progression in the opposite direction, with decreasing spatial complexity and increased stereotypy, occurs under the influence of the nonselective dopaminergic drugs apomorphine and amphetamine and partly also the selective dopamine agonist quinpirole. The behaviors associated with the mobility gradient appear to be mediated by a family of basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits and their descending output stations. Because the small number of rules underlying the mobility gradient account for a large variety of behaviors, they may be related to the specific functional demands on these neurological systems. The EW system and the mobility gradient model should prove useful to ethologists and neurobiologists.

Organization of food protection behavior is differentially influenced by 192 IgG-saporin lesions of either the medial septum or the nucleus basalis magnocellularis

Converging lines of evidence have supported a role for the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NB) in attentional mechanisms; however, debate continues regarding the role of the medial septum in behavior (MS). Recent studies have supported a role for the septohippocampal system in the online processing of internally generated cues. The current study was designed to investigate a possible double dissociation in rat food protection behavior, a natural behavior that has been shown to depend on external and internal sources of information. The study examined the effects of intraparenchymal injections of 192 IgG-saporin into either the MS or NB on the organization of food protection behavior. NB cholinergic lesions reduced the number of successful food protection behaviors while sparing the temporal organization of food protection behavior. In contrast, MS cholinergic lesions disrupted the temporal organization of food protection behavior while sparing the ability to successfully protect food items. These observations are consistent with a double dissociation of NB and MS cholinergic systems' contributions to processing external and internal sources of information and provide further evidence for the septohippocampal system's involvement in processing internally generated cues.

The brain as the engine of sex differences in the organization of movement in rats

Sex differences in the kinematic organization of non-reproductive behavior are often relegated to byproducts of sex differences in body morphology. We review evidence showing not only that male and female rats organize their posture and stepping differently during a variety of actions, but that these differences arise from sex differences in the organization of movement in the central nervous system (CNS). Indeed, the expression and choice of sex-typical patterns of movement can be altered by CNS injury. The pattern of hormonal regulation of these sex differences is also not organized as commonly held theory would predict. As expected, males castrated shortly after birth are female-typical in their motor organization. Females ovariectomized at birth, however, are male-typical in their patterns of movement. Thus, female-typical patterns of movement organization are not the default form, but rather are dependent on the effects of gonadal steroids to feminize the developing CNS. The implications of these findings are discussed with regards to our understanding of the evolution of sex differences in CNS anatomy and behavior both for animals and humans.

To move or not: Previous experience in a runway avoidance task determines the appearance of hippocampal Type 2 sensory processing theta

Rats in a runway avoidance task responded to a test shock probe with a period of immobility lasting from 2 to 6s. The shock avoidance-trained group displayed hippocampal theta during the immobility response. The inescapable shock group, in contrast, displayed large amplitude irregular activity (LIA). Following reversal training to escapable shock, all shock avoidance-trained rats responded with LIA and inescapable shock trained rats, reversed to shock avoidance, displayed theta.

Pharmacological manipulations of food protection behavior in rats: Evidence for dopaminergic contributions to time perception during a natural behavior

Operant procedures combined with pharmacological manipulations have implicated a role for the dopaminergic system in the perception and production of temporal intervals. Because studies have suggested that animals use temporal information to organize food protection behavior, the current study investigates whether dopaminergic systems are involved in timing during this natural behavior. The experiment examined the influence of a dopaminergic agonist (amphetamine) and an antagonist (haloperidol) on food protection behavior initiated to avoid theft by a conspecific. Amphetamine increased the time spent dodging and decreased the time spent bracing during the consumption of a hazelnut. On the other hand, haloperidol decreased the time spent dodging while showing no systematic changes in bracing. Topographic and kinematic analyses of rat movement conflicted with motivational, motoric, and social accounts of drug-induced changes in food protection behavior organization. These observations provide evidence that rats use temporal information to organize movements in the natural behavior of protecting food from theft by a conspecific, and this organization is influenced by both a dopaminergic agonist and an antagonist.

The effects of orbital frontal cortex damage on the modulation of defensive responses by rats in playful and nonplayful social contexts

In a series of 3 experiments on rats, 2 hypotheses were tested: (a) that damage to the orbital frontal cortex (OFC) would alter the socially relevant context for executing defensive responses but not their performance and (b) that damage done to the OFC in early infancy would produce more deficits in social behavior than similar damage occurring in adulthood. Bilateral or unilateral OFC damage in adult males did not impair their ability to defend themselves during play fighting and when protecting their food but did impair their ability to modify the pattern of defense in response to different partners. Rats that sustained bilateral damage at 3 days of age not only had deficits in partner-related modulation of defense but also exhibited hyperactivity in their play. The findings thus supported the proposed hypotheses.

Neonatal and pubertal, but not adult, ovarian steroids are necessary for the development of female-typical patterns of dodging to protect a food item

Rats protect food by dodging horizontally away from a conspecific. Females and males use different movement and stepping patterns to execute a dodge. An unresolved question is whether exposure to ovarian steroids in females is necessary for the development of the female-typical pattern. Females ovariectomized neonatally and prior to puberty use a combination of male and female tactics. Pregnant females, however, use a female-typical pattern of dodging, suggesting that the patterns used by prepubertal ovariectomized females are not due to their increase in body mass. Thus, the contribution of ovarian steroids to the development of female-typical patterns of behavior needs to be studied further at both a behavioral and neural level with regard to the organization of movement.

A masculinized skeletomusculature is not necessary for male-typical patterns of food-protective movement

Although sexual dimorphism in movement has been documented in rodents, the extent to which it relates to dimorphic neural control versus dimorphic body size/structure is unclear. We have shown previously that male and female rats are sexually dimorphic with regards to the lateral movements and hindpaw stepping they use to protect a food item. We addressed the question of whether this sexual dimorphism is due to sex differences in peripheral skeletomusculature or in the CNS by examining the movement composition used during dodging to protect a food item by tfm-affected males and their wild-type male (WTM) and female (WTF) controls. The tfm-affected male, while genetically male, develops internal testes that secrete testosterone, but is phenotypically female due to a failure of androgen receptor-mediated masculinization of the periphery. Masculinization of the CNS of tfm-affected males, however, is primarily accomplished by the actions of testosterone's aromatized metabolite estradiol acting via estrogen receptors. Thus the tfm-affected male provides an assay by which the relative contributions of the skeletomusculature or CNS to sex differences in movement organization can be addressed. We found that female wild-type animals were significantly different from both the tfm-affected and wild-type males. There were no significant differences in dodge patterns used by tfm-affected males and their wild-type male controls. This study provides evidence that the sex differences in dodging patterns are mediated primarily by CNS mechanisms and are not primarily dependent on a male- or female-typical skeletomusculature.

Impaired dodging in food-conflict following fimbria-fornix transection in rats: a novel hippocampal formation deficit

It is well known that damage to the hippocampal formation (Ammon's horn, dentate gyrus, fimbria-fornix, and other pathways) produces impairments in spatial navigation and in certain forms of learning. Lesions within these structures have also been reported to produce some motor impairments, but the nature of these impairments is less understood. The present study examined the effects of fimbria-fornix lesions on food wrenching and dodging, social interactions that occur when one rat attempts to steal food from a conspecific, who in turn attempts to protect the food by an evasive movement. Lesion effectiveness was confirmed histologically and electrophysiologically, by the loss of hippocampal rhythmical slow-wave activity (RSA or theta), and by changes in open field behavior (increased open field behavior, less thigmotaxis and more defecation). Analysis of the social interaction indicated when an eating control rat was approached by a conspecific that was attempting to steal its food, it prevented the theft by dodging, a rapid lateral maneuver involving forequarter turning and stepping with the rear limbs. Rats with fimbria-fornix lesions were significantly impaired in dodging and so were more likely to lose their food to the robber. This novel deficit in motor behavior is discussed in relation to contemporary theories of hippocampal function and it is suggested that the deficit may be caused by an inability of the fimbria-fornix damaged animals to disengage attention from eating in order to initiate an evasive movement to protect food. The finding of this novel deficit underscores the importance of considering both loss as well as release phenomena in the analysis of hippocampal formation function.

Theta band oscillation and synchrony in the hippocampal formation and associated structures: the case for its role in sensorimotor integration

The current review advances the argument that it is naïve to ascribe a unitary function to the hippocampal formation (HPC). Rather, it is more productive to consider the hippocampal formation as consisting of a number of subsystems, each subsystem defined by its own particular neural circuitry. Among examples of neural circuitry appearing in current hippocampal literature are theta, beta and gamma oscillations, sharp waves, place cells and head orientation cells. Data are reviewed supporting the case that theta band oscillation and synchrony is involved in mechanisms underlying sensorimotor integration. Specifically, the neural circuitry underlying the production of oscillation and synchrony (theta) in limbic cortex and associated structures function in the capacity of providing voluntary motor systems with continually updated feedback on their performance relative to changing environmental (sensory) conditions. A crucial aspect of this performance is the intensity with which the motor programs are initiated and maintained. The ascending brainstem HPC synchronizing pathways make the primary contribution in this regard. These pathways originate in the rostral pontine region, ascend and synapse with caudal diencephalic nuclei, which in turn send projections to the medial septal region. The medial septum functions as the node in the ascending pathways, sending both cholinergic and GABA-ergic projections to the HPC. An updated version of the sensorimotor integration model including anatomical details is presented and discussed.

Food stealing by young Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Six experiments were undertaken to explore factors affecting young rats' (Rattus norvegicus) frequencies of stealing food from conspecifics when identical food is available in surplus. It was found that (a) rats would walk across a bed of pellets to steal the particular pellet a peer was eating, (b) frequency of stealing within a pair did not decrease over days, (c) rats stole unfamiliar foods more frequently than familiar foods, (d) younger rats stole from older rats more frequently than older rats stole from younger ones, (e) hungry rats stole more frequently than replete rats, and (f) rats that had stolen a pellet of unfamiliar food from an anesthetized conspecific subsequently exhibited an enhanced preference for that food. Results suggest that food stealing is a mode of active seeking of information about what foods to eat.

Hippocampal formation is involved in movement selection: evidence from medial septal cholinergic modulation and concurrent slow-wave (theta rhythm) recording

Hippocampal rhythmical slow-wave field activity which occurs in response to sensory stimulation is predominantly cholinergic (atropine-sensitive theta rhythm), can precede movement initiation, and co-occurs during non-cholinergic theta rhythm associated with ongoing movement (atropine-resistant). This relationship suggests that theta rhythm plays some role in movement control. The present naturalistic experiments tested the idea that atropine-sensitive theta rhythm plays a role in sensory integration and planning required for initiating appropriate movements. One of a pair of hungry rats, the victim, implanted with hippocampal field recording electrodes, a septal injection cannula, and a posterior hypothalamic stimulating electrode, was given food which the other, the robber, tries to steal. Since the victim dodges from the robber with a latency, distance, and velocity dependent upon the size of the food, elapsed eating time, and proximity of the robber, the movement requires sensory integration and planning. Although eating behavior seemed normal, atropine-sensitive theta rhythm and dodging were disrupted by an infusion of a cholinergic antagonist into the medial septum. When the victim in turn attempted to steal the food back, Type 1 theta rhythm was present and robbery attempts seemed normal. Prior to cholinergic blockade, posterior hypothalamic stimulation produced theta rhythm and dodges, even in the absence of the robber, but following injections, atropine-sensitive theta rhythm and dodging were absent as the animals dropped the food and ran. The results provide the first evidence to link atropine-sensitive theta rhythm and hippocampal structures to a role in sensory integration and planning for the initiation of movement.

Multiple differences in the play fighting of male and female rats. Implications for the causes and functions of play

Play fighting is the most commonly occurring form of social play in juvenile mammals. Typically, males engage in more play fighting than females, and this difference has been shown to depend on the action of androgens perinatally. It is generally believed that the differences in play fighting between the sexes are quantitative and do not involve qualitative differences in the behavior performed. We show that this is an incorrect characterization of sex difference in play fighting. For example, in laboratory rats, there are at least five different mechanisms that contribute to the observed sex differences in play fighting. These mechanisms involve (I) the motivation to initiate play, (II) the sensory capacity to detect and respond to a play partner, (III) the organization of the motor patterns used to interact with a partner, (IV) age-related changes at puberty in initiating play and in responding to playful contact, and (V) dominance-related changes in adulthood in the pattern of playful interaction. Sex differences in the play fighting of rats are due to an interaction of all of these mechanisms, some of which are sex-typical not play-typical, and involve both quantitative and qualitative differences. This is clearly different from the prevailing view that play fighting is a unitary behavior which is masculinized perinatally. Indeed, even though all five mechanisms are androgenized perinatally, the sensorimotor differences also involve defeminization (i.e. reduction of female-typical qualities). This expanded view of the mechanisms contributing to the sex differences in play fighting has implications for both the analysis of the neural systems involved, and for the functional significance of this activity in childhood and adulthood.

Role of the corpus callosum in expression of behavioral asymmetries induced by a unilateral dopamine lesion of the substantia nigra in the rat

The present study examines the effects of sectioning the corpus callosum on the expression of asymmetric behaviors induced by a unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion of the substantial nigra. Severing the corpus callosum eliminated the asymmetry in spontaneous investigation of edges in an open-field, without affecting total time of investigation. In contrast, callosotomy reduced the magnitude of externally cued turning, but failed to affect the directional distribution of responding. Moreover, it reduced the magnitude of apomorphine- but not amphetamine-induced turning. It is suggested that transcallosal communication is required for those behavioral asymmetries induced by a unilateral dopamine lesion which depend on head, rather than whole body movements.