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Bogossian PM, Pereira JS, da Silva NF, Hilgert AR, Seidel SRT, Fülber J, Belli CB, Fernandes WR. Social facilitation of trotting: Can horses perceive and adapt to the movement of another horse? PLoS One 2024; 19:e0309474. [PMID: 39186726 PMCID: PMC11346917 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 08/13/2024] [Indexed: 08/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Exercise intensity is prone to be self-regulated in horses exercising freely. The main drivers include social, feeding and escape behaviors, as well as the operant conditioning. We hypothesized that self-regulated exercise intensity may increase due to the presence of another horse exercising ahead. Seven horses were assigned to a 2x2 crossover trial following treadmill familiarization. Video images of a trotting horse were displayed on the wall in front of the experimental unit (Visual), which was positioned in the treadmill. Physiological and behavioral markers were further compared with a control visual stimulus (Co), comprising a racetrack image without horses. Horses were sampled during a constant load exercise test (1) at rest (baseline), (2) after the warm-up (0 - 10th minute) and (3) after visual stimulation or control (10th- 12th minutes of the SET) to quantify plasma lactate and glucose concentration, heart rate, head angle, as well as behavioral markers. Following visual stimulation, heart rate (130.8 ± 27.8 b.p.m.) was higher than control (84.7 ± 15.1 b.p.m., P = .017), as was plasma lactate (Visual - 5.28 ± 1.48 mg/dl; Co -3.27 ± 1.24 mg/dl, P = .042) and head angle (Visual - 36.43 ± 3.69°; Co -25.14 ± 4.88°, P = .003). The prevalence of "ears forward" behavior was also higher following Visual (100% - 7/7) than Co (14% - 1/7, P = .004). These results suggest that visual stimulus (1) was safe and well tolerated and (2) prompted the anaerobic lactic pathways and shifted the behavior to a vigilant state. In conclusion, horses were able to perceive and adapt to a social environment. Our findings validate the use of social facilitation of trotting to encourage horses to move forward avoiding the use of the whip.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo Moreira Bogossian
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Juliana Santos Pereira
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Nathalia Felicio da Silva
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Ayrton Rodrigo Hilgert
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Sarah Raphaela Torquato Seidel
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Joice Fülber
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Carla Bargi Belli
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Wilson Roberto Fernandes
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo, Brazil
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Kuatsjah E, Khoshnam M, Menon C. Investigation on the effect of noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation on fine motor skills during a visuomotor task in healthy participants. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0216214. [PMID: 31048906 PMCID: PMC6497271 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) has been shown to improve dynamic walking stability, affect postural responses, enhance balance in healthy subjects, and influence motor performance in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Although the studies to fully characterize the effect of nGVS are still ongoing, stochastic resonance theory which states that the addition of noisy signal may enhance a weak sensory input signals transmission in a non-linear system may provide a possible explanation for the observed positive effects of nGVS. This study explores the effect of nGVS on fine tracking behavior in healthy subjects. Ten healthy participants performed a computer-based visuomotor task by controlling an object with a joystick to follow an amplitude-modulated signal path while simultaneously receiving a sham or pink noise nGVS. The stimulation was generated to have a zero-mean, linearly detrended 1/f-type power spectrum, Gaussian distribution within 0.1–10 Hz range, and a standard deviation (SD) set to 90% based on each participant’s cutaneous threshold value. Results show that simultaneous nGVS delivery statistically improved the tracking performance with a decreased root-mean-squared error of 5.71±6.20% (mean±SD), a decreased time delay of 11.88±9.66% (mean±SD), and an increased signal-to-noise ratio of 2.93% (median, interquartile range (IQR) 3.31%). This study showed evidence that nGVS may be beneficial in improving sensorimotor performance during a fine motor tracking task requiring fine wrist movement in healthy subjects. Further research with a more comprehensive subset of tasks is required to fully characterize the effects of nGVS on fine motor skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunice Kuatsjah
- Menrva Research Group, Schools of Mechatronic Systems Engineering and Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Mahta Khoshnam
- Menrva Research Group, Schools of Mechatronic Systems Engineering and Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Carlo Menon
- Menrva Research Group, Schools of Mechatronic Systems Engineering and Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- * E-mail:
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Ros IG, Biewener AA. Pigeons ( C. livia) Follow Their Head during Turning Flight: Head Stabilization Underlies the Visual Control of Flight. Front Neurosci 2017; 11:655. [PMID: 29249929 PMCID: PMC5717024 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2017] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Similar flight control principles operate across insect and vertebrate fliers. These principles indicate that robust solutions have evolved to meet complex behavioral challenges. Following from studies of visual and cervical feedback control of flight in insects, we investigate the role of head stabilization in providing feedback cues for controlling turning flight in pigeons. Based on previous observations that the eyes of pigeons remain at relatively fixed orientations within the head during flight, we test potential sensory control inputs derived from head and body movements during 90° aerial turns. We observe that periods of angular head stabilization alternate with rapid head repositioning movements (head saccades), and confirm that control of head motion is decoupled from aerodynamic and inertial forces acting on the bird's continuously rotating body during turning flapping flight. Visual cues inferred from head saccades correlate with changes in flight trajectory; whereas the magnitude of neck bending predicts angular changes in body position. The control of head motion to stabilize a pigeon's gaze may therefore facilitate extraction of important motion cues, in addition to offering mechanisms for controlling body and wing movements. Strong similarities between the sensory flight control of birds and insects may also inspire novel designs of robust controllers for human-engineered autonomous aerial vehicles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivo G Ros
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States.,Division of Biology and Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
| | - Andrew A Biewener
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
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Yao Y, Li X, Zhang B, Yin C, Liu Y, Chen W, Zeng S, Du J. Visual Cue-Discriminative Dopaminergic Control of Visuomotor Transformation and Behavior Selection. Neuron 2016; 89:598-612. [PMID: 26804989 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.12.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2015] [Revised: 11/01/2015] [Accepted: 12/18/2015] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Animals behave differently in response to visual cues with distinct ethological meaning, a process usually thought to be achieved through differential visual processing. Using a defined zebrafish escape circuit as a model, we found that behavior selection can be implemented at the visuomotor transformation stage through a visually responsive dopaminergic-inhibitory circuit module. In response to non-threatening visual stimuli, hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons and their positively regulated hindbrain inhibitory interneurons increase activity, suppressing synaptic transmission from the visual center to the escape circuit. By contrast, threatening visual stimuli inactivate some of these neurons, resulting in dis-inhibition of the visuomotor transformation and escape generation. The distinct patterns of dopaminergic-inhibitory neural module's visual responses account for this stimulus-specific visuomotor transformation and behavioral control. Thus, our study identifies a behavioral relevance-dependent mechanism that controls visuomotor transformation and behavior selection and reveals that neuromodulation can be tuned by visual cues to help animals generate appropriate responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyuan Yao
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China; Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Xiaoquan Li
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Baibing Zhang
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China; Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Chen Yin
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China; Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Yafeng Liu
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology-Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Weiyu Chen
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China; Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Shaoqun Zeng
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology-Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Jiulin Du
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China; Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China; School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 319 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
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