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Mañas-Padilla MC, Melgar-Locatelli S, Vicente L, Gil-Rodríguez S, Rivera P, Rodríguez-Pérez C, Castilla-Ortega E. Temozolomide treatment inhibits spontaneous motivation for exploring a complex object in mice: A potential role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in "curiosity". J Comp Neurol 2023; 531:548-560. [PMID: 36515664 PMCID: PMC10107499 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Intrinsic exploratory biases are an innate motivation for exploring certain types of stimuli or environments over others, and they may be associated with cognitive, emotional, and even personality-like traits. However, their neurobiological basis has been scarcely investigated. Considering the involvement of the hippocampus in novelty recognition and in spatial and pattern separation tasks, this work researched the role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) in intrinsic exploratory bias for a perceptually complex object in mice. Spontaneous object preference tasks revealed that both male and female C57BL/6J mice showed a consistent unconditioned preference for exploring "complex"-irregular-objects over simpler ones. Furthermore, increasing objects' complexity resulted in an augmented time of object exploration. In a different experiment, male mice received either vehicle or the DNA alkylating agent temozolomide (TMZ) for 4 weeks, a pharmacological treatment that reduced AHN as evidenced by immunohistochemistry. After assessment in a behavioral test battery, the TMZ-treated mice did not show any alterations in general exploratory and anxiety-like responses. However, when tested in the spontaneous object preference task, the TMZ-treated mice did not display enhanced exploration of the complex object, as evidenced both by a reduced exploration time-specifically for the complex object-and a lack of preference for the complex object over the simple one. This study supports a novel role of AHN in intrinsic exploratory bias for perceptual complexity. Moreover, the spontaneous complex object preference task as a rodent model of "curiosity" is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Carmen Mañas-Padilla
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Málaga, Spain.,Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - Sonia Melgar-Locatelli
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Málaga, Spain.,Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - Lucía Vicente
- Centro de Experimentación y Conducta Animal, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain.,Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Sara Gil-Rodríguez
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Málaga, Spain.,Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - Patricia Rivera
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Málaga, Spain.,Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - Celia Rodríguez-Pérez
- Departamento de Nutrición y Bromatología, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Melilla, Melilla, Spain.,Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos 'José Mataix', Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.,Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.GRANADA), Granada, Spain
| | - Estela Castilla-Ortega
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Málaga, Spain.,Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
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Sampedro-Piquero P, Mañas-Padilla MC, Ávila-Gámiz F, Gil-Rodríguez S, Santín LJ, Castilla-Ortega E. Where to place the rewards? Exploration bias in mice influences performance in the classic hole-board spatial memory test. Anim Cogn 2019; 22:433-443. [PMID: 30852738 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01256-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2018] [Revised: 02/28/2019] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The classic hole-board paradigm (a square arena with 16 holes arranged equidistantly in a 4 × 4 pattern) assesses both exploration and spatial memory in rodents. For spatial memory training, food rewards are hidden in a fixed set of holes. The animal must not visit (i.e. nose-poke) the holes that are never baited (reference memory; RM) nor re-visit a baited hole within a session (working memory; WM). However, previous exploratory bias may affect performance during reward searching. During habituation sessions with either all holes rewarded or all holes empty, mice intrinsically preferred poking peripheral holes (especially those located in the maze's corners) over centre holes. During spatial memory training, mice progressively shifted their hole pokes and staying time to the central area that contained hidden rewards, while mice exposed to the empty apparatus still preferred the periphery. A group of pseudotrained mice, for whom rewards were located randomly throughout the maze, also increased their central preference. Furthermore, reward location influenced memory measures. Most repeated pokes (WM-errors) were scored in the locations that were most intrinsically appealing to mice (i.e. the corner and wall-baited holes), supporting a strong influence of previous exploratory bias. Regarding RM, finding rewards located in the centre holes, which were initially less preferred, entailed more difficulty and required more trials to learn. This outcome was confirmed by a second experiment that varied the pattern of rewarded holes, as well as the starting positions. Therefore, reward location is a relevant aspect to consider when designing a hole-board memory task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Sampedro-Piquero
- Insituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Malaga, Spain.
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las CC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos S/N, 29071, Malaga, Spain.
| | - M Carmen Mañas-Padilla
- Insituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Malaga, Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las CC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos S/N, 29071, Malaga, Spain
| | - Fabiola Ávila-Gámiz
- Insituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Malaga, Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las CC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos S/N, 29071, Malaga, Spain
| | - Sara Gil-Rodríguez
- Insituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Malaga, Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las CC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos S/N, 29071, Malaga, Spain
| | - Luis J Santín
- Insituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Malaga, Spain.
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las CC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos S/N, 29071, Malaga, Spain.
| | - Estela Castilla-Ortega
- Insituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Malaga, Spain.
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Avenida Carlos Haya 82, 29010, Malaga, Spain.
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Che J, Sun X, Gallardo V, Nadal M. Cross-cultural empirical aesthetics. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2018; 237:77-103. [PMID: 29779752 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Cross-cultural empirical aesthetics seeks to determine whether the psychological processes underlying aesthetic preference are universal. Here we provide a critical review of the field's origin, development, and current state. Our goal is to evaluate the evidence and separate what is actually known from what is only assumed. We conclude that the evidence shows that people from different cultures base their aesthetic preference on a common set of formal features, including symmetry, complexity, proportion, contour, brightness, and contrast. The reason for this commonality is that aesthetic preference emerges from basic perceptual and valuation processes that are common to all humans, and to many other animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiajia Che
- Human Evolution and Cognition Group, IFISC, University of the Balearic Islands-CSIC, Palma, Spain
| | - Xiaolei Sun
- Human Evolution and Cognition Group, IFISC, University of the Balearic Islands-CSIC, Palma, Spain
| | | | - Marcos Nadal
- Human Evolution and Cognition Group, IFISC, University of the Balearic Islands-CSIC, Palma, Spain.
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