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Armbruster-Genç DJN, Rammensee RA, Jungmann SM, Drake P, Wessa M, Basten U. The Ambiguous Cue Task: Measurement reliability of an experimental paradigm for the assessment of interpretation bias and associations with mental health. Behav Res Methods 2024:10.3758/s13428-024-02451-y. [PMID: 38995519 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-024-02451-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024]
Abstract
Interpretation biases in the processing of ambiguous affective information are assumed to play an important role in the onset and maintenance of emotional disorders. Reports of low reliability for experimental measures of cognitive biases have called into question previous findings on the association of these measures with markers of mental health and demonstrated the need to systematically evaluate measurement reliability for measures of cognitive biases. We evaluated reliability and correlations with self-report measures of mental health for interpretation bias scores derived from the Ambiguous Cue Task (ACT), an experimental paradigm for the assessment of approach-avoidance behavior towards ambiguous affective stimuli. For a non-clinical sample, the measurement of an interpretation bias with the ACT showed high internal consistency (rSB = .91 - .96, N = 354) and acceptable 2-week test-retest correlations (rPearson = .61 - .65, n = 109). Correlations between the ACT interpretation bias scores and mental health-related self-report measures of personality and well-being were generally small (r ≤ |.11|) and statistically not significant when correcting for multiple comparisons. These findings suggest that in non-clinical populations, individual differences in the interpretation of ambiguous affective information as assessed with the ACT do not show a clear association with self-report markers of mental health. However, in allowing for a highly reliable measurement of interpretation bias, the ACT provides a valuable tool for studies considering potentially small effect sizes in non-clinical populations by studying bigger samples as well as for work on clinical populations, for which potentially greater effects can be expected.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca A Rammensee
- Department of Psychology, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau, Germany
| | - Stefanie M Jungmann
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Experimental Psychopathology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Philine Drake
- DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Michèle Wessa
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Ulrike Basten
- Department of Psychology, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau, Germany
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2
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Nelson XJ, Taylor AH, Cartmill EA, Lyn H, Robinson LM, Janik V, Allen C. Joyful by nature: approaches to investigate the evolution and function of joy in non-human animals. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1548-1563. [PMID: 37127535 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The nature and evolution of positive emotion is a major question remaining unanswered in science and philosophy. The study of feelings and emotions in humans and animals is dominated by discussion of affective states that have negative valence. Given the clinical and social significance of negative affect, such as depression, it is unsurprising that these emotions have received more attention from scientists. Compared to negative emotions, such as fear that leads to fleeing or avoidance, positive emotions are less likely to result in specific, identifiable, behaviours being expressed by an animal. This makes it particularly challenging to quantify and study positive affect. However, bursts of intense positive emotion (joy) are more likely to be accompanied by externally visible markers, like vocalisations or movement patterns, which make it more amenable to scientific study and more resilient to concerns about anthropomorphism. We define joy as intense, brief, and event-driven (i.e. a response to something), which permits investigation into how animals react to a variety of situations that would provoke joy in humans. This means that behavioural correlates of joy are measurable, either through newly discovered 'laughter' vocalisations, increases in play behaviour, or reactions to cognitive bias tests that can be used across species. There are a range of potential situations that cause joy in humans that have not been studied in other animals, such as whether animals feel joy on sunny days, when they accomplish a difficult feat, or when they are reunited with a familiar companion after a prolonged absence. Observations of species-specific calls and play behaviour can be combined with biometric markers and reactions to ambiguous stimuli in order to enable comparisons of affect between phylogenetically distant taxonomic groups. Identifying positive affect is also important for animal welfare because knowledge of positive emotional states would allow us to monitor animal well-being better. Additionally, measuring if phylogenetically and ecologically distant animals play more, laugh more, or act more optimistically after certain kinds of experiences will also provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the evolution of joy and other positive emotions, and potentially even into the evolution of consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ximena J Nelson
- Private Bag 4800, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Alex H Taylor
- Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain
- ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys, 23, Barcelona, Spain
- School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand
| | - Erica A Cartmill
- Departments of Anthropology and Psychology, UCLA, 375 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Heidi Lyn
- Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, 75 S. University Blvd., Mobile, AL, 36688, USA
| | - Lauren M Robinson
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1a, Vienna, A-1160, Austria
| | - Vincent Janik
- Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 8LB, UK
| | - Colin Allen
- Department of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, 1101 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA
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3
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A promising novel judgement bias test to evaluate affective states in dogs (Canis familiaris). Anim Cogn 2022; 25:837-852. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01596-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 11/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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4
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Mayer JS, Brandt GA, Medda J, Basten U, Grimm O, Reif A, Freitag CM. Depressive symptoms in youth with ADHD: the role of impairments in cognitive emotion regulation. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2022; 272:793-806. [PMID: 35107603 PMCID: PMC9279209 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-022-01382-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk to develop co-morbid depression. Identifying factors that contribute to depression risk may allow early intervention and prevention. Poor emotion regulation, which is common in adolescents, is a candidate risk factor. Impaired cognitive emotion regulation is a fundamental characteristic of depression and depression risk in the general population. However, little is known about cognitive emotion regulation in youth with ADHD and its link to depression and depression risk. Using explicit and implicit measures, this study assessed cognitive emotion regulation in youth with ADHD (N = 40) compared to demographically matched healthy controls (N = 40) and determined the association with depressive symptomatology. As explicit measure, we assessed the use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies via self-report. As implicit measure, performance in an ambiguous cue-conditioning task was assessed as indicator of affective bias in the processing of information. Compared to controls, patients reported more frequent use of maladaptive (i.e., self-blame, catastrophizing, and rumination) and less frequent use of adaptive (i.e., positive reappraisal) emotion regulation strategies. This pattern was associated with the severity of current depressive symptoms in patients. In the implicit measure of cognitive bias, there was no significant difference in response of patients and controls and no association with depression. Our findings point to depression-related alterations in the use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in youth with ADHD. The study suggests those alterations as a candidate risk factor for ADHD-depression comorbidity that may be used for risk assessment and prevention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jutta S Mayer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Geva A Brandt
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J 5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Juliane Medda
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Ulrike Basten
- Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Oliver Grimm
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Str. 10, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Andreas Reif
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Str. 10, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Christine M Freitag
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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5
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Neville V, Dayan P, Gilchrist ID, Paul ES, Mendl M. Using Primary Reinforcement to Enhance Translatability of a Human Affect and Decision-Making Judgment Bias Task. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 33:2523-2535. [PMID: 34477879 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Good translatability of behavioral measures of affect (emotion) between human and nonhuman animals is core to comparative studies. The judgment bias (JB) task, which measures "optimistic" and "pessimistic" decision-making under ambiguity as indicators of positive and negative affective valence, has been used in both human and nonhuman animals. However, one key disparity between human and nonhuman studies is that the former typically use secondary reinforcers (e.g., money) whereas the latter typically use primary reinforcers (e.g., food). To address this deficiency and shed further light on JB as a measure of affect, we developed a novel version of a JB task for humans using primary reinforcers. Data on decision-making and reported affective state during the JB task were analyzed using computational modeling. Overall, participants grasped the task well, and as anticipated, their reported affective valence correlated with trial-by-trial variation in offered volume of juice. In addition, previous findings from monetary versions of the task were replicated: More positive prediction errors were associated with more positive affective valence, a higher lapse rate was associated with lower affective arousal, and affective arousal decreased as a function of number of trials completed. There was no evidence that more positive valence was associated with greater "optimism," but instead, there was evidence that affective valence influenced the participants' decision stochasticity, whereas affective arousal tended to influence their propensity for errors. This novel version of the JB task provides a useful tool for investigation of the links between primary reward and punisher experience, affect, and decision-making, especially from a comparative perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Peter Dayan
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.,University of Tübingen
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Resasco A, MacLellan A, Ayala MA, Kitchenham L, Edwards AM, Lam S, Dejardin S, Mason G. Cancer blues? A promising judgment bias task indicates pessimism in nude mice with tumors. Physiol Behav 2021; 238:113465. [PMID: 34029586 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Revised: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
In humans, affective states can bias responses to ambiguous information: a phenomenon termed judgment bias (JB). Judgment biases have great potential for assessing affective states in animals, in both animal welfare and biomedical research. New animal JB tasks require construct validation, but for laboratory mice (Mus musculus), the most common research vertebrate, a valid JB task has proved elusive. Here (Experiment 1), we demonstrate construct validity for a novel mouse JB test: an olfactory Go/Go task in which subjects dig for high- or low-value food rewards. In C57BL/6 and Balb/c mice faced with ambiguous cues, latencies to dig were sensitive to high/low welfare housing: environmentally-enriched animals responded with relative 'optimism' through shorter latencies. Illustrating the versatility of this validated JB task across different fields of research, it further allowed us to test hypotheses about the mood-altering effects of cancer in male and female nude mice (Experiment 2). Males, although not females, treated ambiguous cues as intermediate; and males bearing subcutaneous lung adenocarcinomas also responded more pessimistically to these than did healthy controls. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of a valid mouse JB task, and the first demonstration of pessimism in tumor-bearing animals. This task still needs to be refined to improve its sensitivity. However, it has great potential for investigating mouse welfare, the links between affective state and disease, depression-like states in animals, and hypotheses regarding the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie affect-mediated biases in judgment.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Resasco
- Institute of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, National Scientific and Technical Research Council-University of Buenos Aires, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Laboratory of Experimental Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - A MacLellan
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - M A Ayala
- Laboratory of Experimental Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - L Kitchenham
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - A M Edwards
- Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - S Lam
- Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - S Dejardin
- Formerly Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - G Mason
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada.
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7
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Neville V, Dayan P, Gilchrist ID, Paul ES, Mendl M. Dissecting the links between reward and loss, decision-making, and self-reported affect using a computational approach. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1008555. [PMID: 33417595 PMCID: PMC7819615 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Revised: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Links between affective states and risk-taking are often characterised using summary statistics from serial decision-making tasks. However, our understanding of these links, and the utility of decision-making as a marker of affect, needs to accommodate the fact that ongoing (e.g., within-task) experience of rewarding and punishing decision outcomes may alter future decisions and affective states. To date, the interplay between affect, ongoing reward and punisher experience, and decision-making has received little detailed investigation. Here, we examined the relationships between reward and loss experience, affect, and decision-making in humans using a novel judgement bias task analysed with a novel computational model. We demonstrated the influence of within-task favourability on decision-making, with more risk-averse/‘pessimistic’ decisions following more positive previous outcomes and a greater current average earning rate. Additionally, individuals reporting more negative affect tended to exhibit greater risk-seeking decision-making, and, based on our model, estimated time more poorly. We also found that individuals reported more positive affective valence during periods of the task when prediction errors and offered decision outcomes were more positive. Our results thus provide new evidence that (short-term) within-task rewarding and punishing experiences determine both future decision-making and subjectively experienced affective states. Affective states, such as happiness, are key to well-being. They are thought to reflect characteristics of the environment such as the availability of reward and the inevitability of punishment. However, there is a lack of agreement about: (i) the time scales over which these characteristics are measured; (ii) how and in what combinations actual or expected outcomes influence affect; (iii) how affect itself influences decision-making. A particular stance on the last issue underpins the judgement bias task, which, by measuring an individual’s willingness to make ‘optimistic’ or ‘pessimistic’ choices that are rendered risky by perceptual ambiguity, is one of the few cross-species tests for affect. Here we apply a novel computational analysis to a novel judgement bias task to examine all three issues. We reveal a rich interplay between affect and rewards, punishments, and uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikki Neville
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Peter Dayan
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Iain D. Gilchrist
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth S. Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, United Kingdom
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8
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Does Approach-Avoidance Behavior in Response to Ambiguous Cues Reflect Depressive Interpretation Bias? Related but Distinct. COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10608-020-10133-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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9
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Burani C, Barnard S, Wells D, Pelosi A, Valsecchi P. Using judgment bias test in pet and shelter dogs (Canis familiaris): Methodological and statistical caveats. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0241344. [PMID: 33108399 PMCID: PMC7591058 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [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: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
It is now widely agreed that a positive affective state is a crucial component of animal well-being. The judgment bias test represents a widespread tool used to assess animals' optimistic/pessimistic attitude and to evaluate their emotional state and welfare. Judgment bias tests have been used several times with dogs (Canis familiaris), in most cases using a spatial test with a bowl placed in ambiguous positions located between a relatively positive trained location (P) which contains a baited bowl and a relatively negative trained location (N) which contains an empty bowl. The latency to approach the bowl in the ambiguous locations is an indicator of the dog's expectation of a positive/negative outcome. However, results from such tests are often inconclusive. For the present study, the judgment bias test performance of 51 shelter dogs and 40 pet dogs was thoroughly analysed. A pattern emerged with shelter dogs behaving in a more pessimistic-like way than pet dogs. However, this difference between the two populations was detected only when analysing the raw latencies to reach the locations and not the more commonly applied adjusted score (i.e. average latency values). Furthermore, several methodological caveats were found. First of all, a non-negligible percentage of dogs did not pass the training phase, possibly due to the experimental paradigm not being fully suited for this species. Second, results showed a high intra-dog variability in response to the trained locations, i.e. the dogs' responses were not consistent throughout the test, suggesting that animals may not have fully learned the association between locations and their outcomes. Third, dogs did not always behave differently towards adjacent locations, raising doubts about the animals' ability to discriminate between locations. Finally, a potential influence of the researcher's presence on dogs' performance emerged from analyses. The implications of these findings and potential solutions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlotta Burani
- Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
| | - Shanis Barnard
- Animal Behaviour Centre, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Deborah Wells
- Animal Behaviour Centre, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Annalisa Pelosi
- Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
| | - Paola Valsecchi
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
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10
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Neville V, Nakagawa S, Zidar J, Paul ES, Lagisz M, Bateson M, Løvlie H, Mendl M. Pharmacological manipulations of judgement bias: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 108:269-286. [PMID: 31747552 PMCID: PMC6966323 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Revised: 11/13/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Validated measures of animal affect are crucial to research spanning numerous disciplines. Judgement bias, which assesses decision-making under ambiguity, is a promising measure of animal affect. One way of validating this measure is to administer drugs with affect-altering properties in humans to non-human animals and determine whether the predicted judgement biases are observed. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using data from 20 published research articles that use this approach, from which 557 effect sizes were extracted. Pharmacological manipulations overall altered judgement bias at the probe cues as predicted. However, there were several moderating factors including the neurobiological target of the drug, whether the drug induced a relatively positive or negative affective state in humans, dosage, and the presented cue. This may partially reflect interference from adverse effects of the drug which should be considered when interpreting results. Thus, the overall pattern of change in animal judgement bias appears to reflect the affect-altering properties of drugs in humans, and hence may be a valuable measure of animal affective valence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikki Neville
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford BS40 5DU, United Kingdom.
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Josefina Zidar
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Elizabeth S Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
| | - Malgorzata Lagisz
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Melissa Bateson
- Institute of Neuroscience and Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom
| | - Hanne Løvlie
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
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Lin XX, Sun YB, Wang YZ, Fan L, Wang X, Wang N, Luo F, Wang JY. Ambiguity Processing Bias Induced by Depressed Mood Is Associated with Diminished Pleasantness. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18726. [PMID: 31822749 PMCID: PMC6904491 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55277-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Accepted: 11/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Depressed individuals are biased to perceive, interpret, and judge ambiguous cues in a negative/pessimistic manner. Depressed mood can induce and exacerbate these biases, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. We theorize that depressed mood can bias ambiguity processing by altering one's subjective emotional feelings (e.g. pleasantness/unpleasantness) of the cues. This is because when there is limited objective information, individuals often rely on subjective feelings as a source of information for cognitive processing. To test this theory, three groups (induced depression vs. spontaneous depression vs. neutral) were tested in the Judgement Bias Task (JBT), a behavioral assay of ambiguity processing bias. Subjective pleasantness/unpleasantness of cues was measured by facial electromyography (EMG) from the zygomaticus major (ZM, "smiling") and from the corrugator supercilii (CS, "frowning") muscles. As predicted, induced sad mood (vs. neutral mood) yielded a negative bias with a magnitude comparable to that in a spontaneous depressed mood. The facial EMG data indicates that the negative judgement bias induced by depressed mood was associated with a decrease in ZM reactivity (i.e., diminished perceived pleasantness of cues). Our results suggest that depressed mood may bias ambiguity processing by affecting the reward system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Xiao Lin
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ya-Bin Sun
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yu-Zheng Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lu Fan
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Beijing, China
| | - Ning Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Fei Luo
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jin-Yan Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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13
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Cockburn A, Smith M, Rusbridge C, Fowler C, Paul ES, Murrell JC, Blackwell EJ, Casey RA, Whay HR, Mendl M. Evidence of negative affective state in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels with syringomyelia. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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14
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Hales CA, Houghton CJ, Robinson ESJ. Behavioural and computational methods reveal differential effects for how delayed and rapid onset antidepressants effect decision making in rats. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2017; 27:1268-1280. [PMID: 29100819 PMCID: PMC5720479 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2017.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2017] [Revised: 08/18/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders. Until the recent discovery of the rapid onset antidepressant action of ketamine, pharmacological treatments for MDD were limited to conventional antidepressant drugs with delayed clinical efficacy. Using a judgement bias task, this study has investigated whether the temporal differences observed in patients would be reflected in affective biases and decision making behaviour in rodents. The diffusion model was also used to investigate the underlying decision making processes. Positive biases were induced in this task over timeframes that mirror the rapid versus delayed antidepressant efficacy of the drugs in clinical populations. Diffusion modelling revealed that the antidepressants tested also have different effects on decision making processes, suggesting they may act through different neurobiological substrates. This combination of behaviour and computational modelling may provide a useful approach to further investigate the mechanisms underlying rapid antidepressant effect and assess potential new treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire A Hales
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Conor J Houghton
- Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK
| | - Emma S J Robinson
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK.
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Jones S, Paul ES, Dayan P, Robinson ESJ, Mendl M. Pavlovian influences on learning differ between rats and mice in a counter-balanced Go/NoGo judgement bias task. Behav Brain Res 2017; 331:214-224. [PMID: 28549647 PMCID: PMC5480777 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.05.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2017] [Revised: 05/12/2017] [Accepted: 05/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Judgement bias tests of animal affect and hence welfare assume that the animal's responses to ambiguous stimuli, which may herald positive or negative outcomes, are under instrumental control and reflect 'optimism' or 'pessimism' about what will happen. However, Pavlovian control favours responses (e.g. approach or withdrawal) according to the valence associated with a stimulus, rather than the anticipated response outcomes. Typically, positive contexts promote action and approach whilst negative contexts promote inhibition or withdrawal. The prevalence of Go-for-reward (Go-pos) and NoGo-to-avoid-punishment (NoGo-neg) judgement bias tasks reflects this Pavlovian influence. A Pavlovian increase or decrease in activity or vigour has also been argued to accompany positive or negative affective states, and this may interfere with instrumental Go or NoGo decisions under ambiguity based on anticipated decision outcomes. One approach to these issues is to develop counter-balanced Go-pos/NoGo-neg and Go-neg/NoGo-pos tasks. Here we implement such tasks in Sprague Dawley rats and C57BL/6J mice using food and air-puff as decision outcomes. We find striking species/strain differences with rats achieving criterion performance on the Go-pos/NoGo-neg task but failing to learn the Go-neg/NoGo-pos task, in line with predictions, whilst mice do exactly the opposite. Pavlovian predispositions may thus differ between species, for example reflecting foraging and predation ecology and/or baseline activity rates. Learning failures are restricted to cues predicting a negative outcome; use of a more powerful air-puff stimulus may thus allow implementation of a fully counter-balanced task. Rats and mice achieve criterion faster than in comparable automated tasks and also show the expected generalisation of responses across ambiguous tones. A fully counter-balanced task thus offers a potentially rapidly implemented and automated method for assessing animal welfare, identifying welfare problems and areas for welfare improvement and 3Rs Refinement, and assessing the effectiveness of refinements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Jones
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Elizabeth S Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Peter Dayan
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, UK
| | - Emma S J Robinson
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, UK.
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16
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Do horses with poor welfare show 'pessimistic' cognitive biases? Naturwissenschaften 2017; 104:8. [PMID: 28083632 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-016-1429-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2016] [Revised: 12/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/19/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
This field study tested the hypothesis that domestic horses living under putatively challenging-to-welfare conditions (for example involving social, spatial, feeding constraints) would present signs of poor welfare and co-occurring pessimistic judgement biases. Our subjects were 34 horses who had been housed for over 3 years in either restricted riding school situations (e.g. kept in single boxes, with limited roughage, ridden by inexperienced riders; N = 25) or under more naturalistic conditions (e.g. access to free-range, kept in stable social groups, leisure riding; N = 9). The horses' welfare was assessed by recording health-related, behavioural and postural indicators. Additionally, after learning a location task to discriminate a bucket containing either edible food ('positive' location) or unpalatable food ('negative' location), the horses were presented with a bucket located near the positive position, near the negative position and halfway between the positive and negative positions to assess their judgement biases. The riding school horses displayed the highest levels of behavioural and health-related problems and a pessimistic judgment bias, whereas the horses living under more naturalistic conditions displayed indications of good welfare and an optimistic bias. Moreover, pessimistic bias data strongly correlated with poor welfare data. This suggests that a lowered mood impacts a non-human species' perception of its environment and highlights cognitive biases as an appropriate tool to assess the impact of chronic living conditions on horse welfare.
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18
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Iigaya K, Jolivald A, Jitkrittum W, Gilchrist ID, Dayan P, Paul E, Mendl M. Cognitive Bias in Ambiguity Judgements: Using Computational Models to Dissect the Effects of Mild Mood Manipulation in Humans. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0165840. [PMID: 27829041 PMCID: PMC5102472 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Positive and negative moods can be treated as prior expectations over future delivery of rewards and punishments. This provides an inferential foundation for the cognitive (judgement) bias task, now widely-used for assessing affective states in non-human animals. In the task, information about affect is extracted from the optimistic or pessimistic manner in which participants resolve ambiguities in sensory input. Here, we report a novel variant of the task aimed at dissecting the effects of affect manipulations on perceptual and value computations for decision-making under ambiguity in humans. Participants were instructed to judge which way a Gabor patch (250ms presentation) was leaning. If the stimulus leant one way (e.g. left), pressing the REWard key yielded a monetary WIN whilst pressing the SAFE key failed to acquire the WIN. If it leant the other way (e.g. right), pressing the SAFE key avoided a LOSS whilst pressing the REWard key incurred the LOSS. The size (0–100 UK pence) of the offered WIN and threatened LOSS, and the ambiguity of the stimulus (vertical being completely ambiguous) were varied on a trial-by-trial basis, allowing us to investigate how decisions were affected by differing combinations of these factors. Half the subjects performed the task in a ‘Pleasantly’ decorated room and were given a gift (bag of sweets) prior to starting, whilst the other half were in a bare ‘Unpleasant’ room and were not given anything. Although these treatments had little effect on self-reported mood, they did lead to differences in decision-making. All subjects were risk averse under ambiguity, consistent with the notion of loss aversion. Analysis using a Bayesian decision model indicated that Unpleasant Room subjects were (‘pessimistically’) biased towards choosing the SAFE key under ambiguity, but also weighed WINS more heavily than LOSSes compared to Pleasant Room subjects. These apparently contradictory findings may be explained by the influence of affect on different processes underlying decision-making, and the task presented here offers opportunities for further dissecting such processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiyohito Iigaya
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL, London W1T 4JG, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (KI); (MM)
| | - Aurelie Jolivald
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
| | | | - Iain D. Gilchrist
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TU, United Kingdom
| | - Peter Dayan
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL, London W1T 4JG, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (KI); (MM)
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Hales CA, Robinson ESJ, Houghton CJ. Diffusion Modelling Reveals the Decision Making Processes Underlying Negative Judgement Bias in Rats. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0152592. [PMID: 27023442 PMCID: PMC4811525 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2015] [Accepted: 03/16/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Human decision making is modified by emotional state. Rodents exhibit similar biases during interpretation of ambiguous cues that can be altered by affective state manipulations. In this study, the impact of negative affective state on judgement bias in rats was measured using an ambiguous-cue interpretation task. Acute treatment with an anxiogenic drug (FG7142), and chronic restraint stress and social isolation both induced a bias towards more negative interpretation of the ambiguous cue. The diffusion model was fit to behavioural data to allow further analysis of the underlying decision making processes. To uncover the way in which parameters vary together in relation to affective state manipulations, independent component analysis was conducted on rate of information accumulation and distances to decision threshold parameters for control data. Results from this analysis were applied to parameters from negative affective state manipulations. These projected components were compared to control components to reveal the changes in decision making processes that are due to affective state manipulations. Negative affective bias in rodents induced by either FG7142 or chronic stress is due to a combination of more negative interpretation of the ambiguous cue, reduced anticipation of the high reward and increased anticipation of the low reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire A. Hales
- School of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, United Kingdom
| | - Emma S. J. Robinson
- School of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, United Kingdom
| | - Conor J. Houghton
- Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UB, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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Soccer Offside Judgments in Laypersons with Different Types of Static Displays. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0133687. [PMID: 26252653 PMCID: PMC4529197 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2014] [Accepted: 07/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Four experiments investigated offside decisions in laypersons with different types of static displays. Previous research neglected this group although the majority of assistant referees in soccer games at the amateur level are laypersons. The aims of our research were (a) to investigate the spatial resolution in laypersons' perception of offside situations, (b) to search for biases in laypersons' offside judgments, and (c) to develop useful displays for future research. The displays showed the moment when a midfielder passes the ball to a forward moving in the vicinity of a defender. We varied the spatial location of the forward around the defender in eleven steps and participants made their offside decision by pressing a key. Across experiments, displays varied in abstractness (simple shapes, clipart figures, photographs). There were two major findings. Firstly, both accuracy and speed of offside judgments deteriorated when the spatial distance between forward and defender decreased, approaching guessing rate at the smallest distances. Secondly, participants showed a consistent bias in favor of the non-offside response, in contrast to most studies on professional assistant referees. In sum, the results highlight the limited spatial resolution of the visual system and underscore the role of response bias in offside-judgment tasks.
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Housing conditions affect rat responses to two types of ambiguity in a reward-reward discrimination cognitive bias task. Behav Brain Res 2014; 274:73-83. [PMID: 25106739 PMCID: PMC4199117 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.07.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2014] [Revised: 07/25/2014] [Accepted: 07/28/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
We investigated how an unpredictable housing treatment (UHT) influenced measures of rat affect. Control rats showed more anxiety-like behaviour in open-field and elevated plus maze tests than UHT rats. Controls also made more ‘pessimistic’ decisions in an automated cognitive bias task. Our go/go reward–reward task was learnt faster than previous automated go/go tasks. We developed a new ambiguity test that may probe biases in attentional processes.
Decision-making under ambiguity in cognitive bias tasks is a promising new indicator of affective valence in animals. Rat studies support the hypothesis that animals in a negative affective state evaluate ambiguous cues negatively. Prior automated operant go/go judgement bias tasks have involved training rats that an auditory cue of one frequency predicts a Reward and a cue of a different frequency predicts a Punisher (RP task), and then measuring whether ambiguous cues of intermediate frequency are judged as predicting reward (‘optimism’) or punishment (‘pessimism’). We investigated whether an automated Reward–Reward (RR) task yielded similar results to, and was faster to train than, RP tasks. We also introduced a new ambiguity test (simultaneous presentation of the two training cues) alongside the standard single ambiguous cue test. Half of the rats experienced an unpredictable housing treatment (UHT) designed to induce a negative state. Control rats were relatively ‘pessimistic’, whilst UHT rats were quicker, but no less accurate, in their responses in the RR test, and showed less anxiety-like behaviour in independent tests. A possible reason for these findings is that rats adapted to and were stimulated by UHT, whilst control rats in a predictable environment were more sensitive to novelty and change. Responses in the new ambiguity test correlated positively with those in single ambiguous cue tests, and may provide a measure of attention bias. The RR task was quicker to train than previous automated RP tasks. Together, they could be used to disentangle how reward and punishment processes underpin affect-induced cognitive biases.
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22
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Hales CA, Stuart SA, Anderson MH, Robinson ESJ. Modelling cognitive affective biases in major depressive disorder using rodents. Br J Pharmacol 2014; 171:4524-38. [PMID: 24467454 PMCID: PMC4199314 DOI: 10.1111/bph.12603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2013] [Revised: 01/03/2014] [Accepted: 01/18/2014] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects more than 10% of the population, although our understanding of the underlying aetiology of the disease and how antidepressant drugs act to remediate symptoms is limited. Major obstacles include the lack of availability of good animal models that replicate aspects of the phenotype and tests to assay depression-like behaviour in non-human species. To date, research in rodents has been dominated by two types of assays designed to test for depression-like behaviour: behavioural despair tests, such as the forced swim test, and measures of anhedonia, such as the sucrose preference test. These tests have shown relatively good predictive validity in terms of antidepressant efficacy, but have limited translational validity. Recent developments in clinical research have revealed that cognitive affective biases (CABs) are a key feature of MDD. Through the development of neuropsychological tests to provide objective measures of CAB in humans, we have the opportunity to use ‘reverse translation’ to develop and evaluate whether similar methods are suitable for research into MDD using animals. The first example of this approach was reported in 2004 where rodents in a putative negative affective state were shown to exhibit pessimistic choices in a judgement bias task. Subsequent work in both judgement bias tests and a novel affective bias task suggest that these types of assay may provide translational methods for studying MDD using animals. This review considers recent work in this area and the pharmacological and translational validity of these new animal models of CABs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire A Hales
- School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol, UK
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Matovic D, Koch AS, Forgas JP. Can negative mood improve language understanding? Affective influences on the ability to detect ambiguous communication. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2013.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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24
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Trimmer PC, Paul ES, Mendl MT, McNamara JM, Houston AI. On the evolution and optimality of mood States. Behav Sci (Basel) 2013; 3:501-521. [PMID: 25379252 PMCID: PMC4217599 DOI: 10.3390/bs3030501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2013] [Revised: 07/18/2013] [Accepted: 07/31/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Moods can be regarded as fluctuating dispositions to make positive and negative evaluations. Developing an evolutionary approach to mood as an adaptive process, we consider the structure and function of such states in guiding behavioural decisions regarding the acquisition of resources and the avoidance of harm in different circumstances. We use a drift diffusion model of decision making to consider the information required by individuals to optimise decisions between two alternatives, such as whether to approach or withdraw from a stimulus that may be life enhancing or life threatening. We show that two dimensions of variation (expectation and preparedness) are sufficient for such optimal decisions to be made. These two dispositional dimensions enable individuals to maximize the overall benefits of behavioural decisions by modulating both the choice made (e.g., approach/withdraw) and decision speed. Such a structure is compatible with circumplex models of subjectively experienced mood and core affect, and provides testable hypotheses concerning the relationships that occur between valence and arousal components of mood in differing ecological niches. The paper is therefore a useful step toward being able to predict moods (and the effect of moods) using an optimality approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pete C. Trimmer
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK; E-Mail:
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: ; Tel.: +44(0)-7745-842772; Fax: +44(0)-117-3317985
| | - Elizabeth S. Paul
- Division of Animal Health and Husbandry, Langford House, Langford, Bristol BS40 5DU, UK; E-Mails: (E.S.P.); (J.M.M.)
| | - Mike T. Mendl
- Division of Animal Health and Husbandry, Langford House, Langford, Bristol BS40 5DU, UK; E-Mails: (E.S.P.); (J.M.M.)
| | - John M. McNamara
- School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, UK; E-Mail:
| | - Alasdair I. Houston
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK; E-Mail:
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25
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Different problem-solving strategies in dogs diagnosed with anxiety-related disorders and control dogs in an unsolvable task paradigm. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2013.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Evaluation of a novel translational task for assessing emotional biases in different species. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2012; 12:373-81. [PMID: 22183974 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-011-0076-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Changes in the processing of emotional information are key features of affective disorders. Neuropsychological tests based on emotional faces or words are used to detect emotional/affective biases in humans, but these tests are not applicable to animal species. In the present study, we investigated whether a novel affective tone discrimination task (ATDT), developed to study emotion-related behaviour in rats, could also be used to quantify changes in affective states in humans. To date, the methods used in human neuropsychology have not been applicable to animal experiments. Participants completed a training session in which they learnt to discriminate specific tone frequencies and to correctly respond in order to gain emotionally valenced outcomes, to obtain rewards (money), or to avoid punishment (an aversive sound clip). During a subsequent test session, additional ambiguous probe tones were presented at frequencies intermediate between the reward and avoidance paired tones. At the end of the task, participants completed self-report questionnaires. All participants made more avoidance responses to the most ambiguous tone cues, suggesting a bias towards avoidance of punishment. Individual differences in the degrees of bias observed were correlated with anxiety measures, suggesting the task's sensitivity to differences in state anxiety within a healthy population. Further studies in clinical populations will be necessary to assess the task's sensitivity to pathological anxiety states. These data suggest that this affective tone discrimination task provides a novel method to study cognitive affective biases in different species, including humans, and offers a novel assessment to study anxiety.
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Bateson M, Desire S, Gartside S, Wright G. Agitated honeybees exhibit pessimistic cognitive biases. Curr Biol 2011; 21:1070-3. [PMID: 21636277 PMCID: PMC3158593 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 205] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2011] [Revised: 04/21/2011] [Accepted: 05/09/2011] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Whether animals experience human-like emotions is controversial and of immense societal concern [1–3]. Because animals cannot provide subjective reports of how they feel, emotional state can only be inferred using physiological, cognitive, and behavioral measures [4–8]. In humans, negative feelings are reliably correlated with pessimistic cognitive biases, defined as the increased expectation of bad outcomes [9–11]. Recently, mammals [12–16] and birds [17–20] with poor welfare have also been found to display pessimistic-like decision making, but cognitive biases have not thus far been explored in invertebrates. Here, we ask whether honeybees display a pessimistic cognitive bias when they are subjected to an anxiety-like state induced by vigorous shaking designed to simulate a predatory attack. We show for the first time that agitated bees are more likely to classify ambiguous stimuli as predicting punishment. Shaken bees also have lower levels of hemolymph dopamine, octopamine, and serotonin. In demonstrating state-dependent modulation of categorization in bees, and thereby a cognitive component of emotion, we show that the bees' response to a negatively valenced event has more in common with that of vertebrates than previously thought. This finding reinforces the use of cognitive bias as a measure of negative emotional states across species and suggests that honeybees could be regarded as exhibiting emotions. Video Abstract
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Bateson
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Suzanne Desire
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Sarah E. Gartside
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Geraldine A. Wright
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
- Corresponding author
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