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Monari PK, Hammond ER, Zhao X, Maksimoski AN, Petric R, Malone CL, Riters LV, Marler CA. Conditioned preferences: Gated by experience, context, and endocrine systems. Horm Behav 2024; 161:105529. [PMID: 38492501 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 03/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
Central to the navigation of an ever-changing environment is the ability to form positive associations with places and conspecifics. The functions of location and social conditioned preferences are often studied independently, limiting our understanding of their interplay. Furthermore, a de-emphasis on natural functions of conditioned preferences has led to neurobiological interpretations separated from ecological context. By adopting a naturalistic and ethological perspective, we uncover complexities underlying the expression of conditioned preferences. Development of conditioned preferences is a combination of motivation, reward, associative learning, and context, including for social and spatial environments. Both social- and location-dependent reward-responsive behaviors and their conditioning rely on internal state-gating mechanisms that include neuroendocrine and hormone systems such as opioids, dopamine, testosterone, estradiol, and oxytocin. Such reinforced behavior emerges from mechanisms integrating past experience and current social and environmental conditions. Moreover, social context, environmental stimuli, and internal state gate and modulate motivation and learning via associative reward, shaping the conditioning process. We highlight research incorporating these concepts, focusing on the integration of social neuroendocrine mechanisms and behavioral conditioning. We explore three paradigms: 1) conditioned place preference, 2) conditioned social preference, and 3) social conditioned place preference. We highlight nonclassical species to emphasize the naturalistic applications of these conditioned preferences. To fully appreciate the complex integration of spatial and social information, future research must identify neural networks where endocrine systems exert influence on such behaviors. Such research promises to provide valuable insights into conditioned preferences within a broader naturalistic context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick K Monari
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA.
| | - Emma R Hammond
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Xin Zhao
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Alyse N Maksimoski
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Integrative Biology, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Radmila Petric
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA; Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Candice L Malone
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Lauren V Riters
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Integrative Biology, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Catherine A Marler
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Integrative Biology, Madison, WI, USA.
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Asogwa CN, Zhao C, Polzin BJ, Maksimoski AN, Heimovics SA, Riters LV. Distinct patterns of activity within columns of the periaqueductal gray are associated with functionally distinct birdsongs. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2023; 1530:161-181. [PMID: 37800392 PMCID: PMC10841217 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.15066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
Male songbirds produce female-directed songs in spring that convey a state of sexual motivation. Many songbirds also sing in fall flocks in affiliative/gregarious contexts in which song is linked to an intrinsic positive affective state. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) in mammals, which is organized into functional columns, integrates information from multiple brain regions and relays this information to vocal motor areas so that an animal emits a vocal signal reflective of its affective state. Here, we test the hypothesis that distinct columns in the songbird PAG play roles in the distinct affective states communicated by sexually motivated and gregarious song. We quantified the numbers of immediate early gene ZENK-positive cells in 16 PAG subregions in male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) after singing gregarious or sexually motivated song. Results suggest that distinct PAG columns in songbirds context-specifically regulate song, agonistic, and courtship behaviors. A second exploratory, functional tract-tracing study also demonstrated that inputs to the PAG from specific subregions of the medial preoptic nucleus may contribute to gregarious song and behaviors indicative of social dominance. Together, findings suggest that conserved PAG columns and inputs from the preoptic nucleus may play a role in context-specific vocal and other social behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chinweike N Asogwa
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Changjiu Zhao
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Brandon J Polzin
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Alyse N Maksimoski
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Sarah A Heimovics
- Department of Biology, University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Lauren V Riters
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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Maksimoski AN, Stevenson SA, Polzin BJ, Zhao C, Luebke EM, Riters LV. The motivation to flock correlates with vocal-social behaviors and dopamine-related gene expression in male European starlings. Horm Behav 2023; 153:105374. [PMID: 37271085 PMCID: PMC10330916 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
It is proposed that songbird flocks are partly reinforced by positive social interactions, however not all flock mate interactions are positive. The combination of both positive and negative social interactions with flock mates may play a role in the motivation for birds to flock. The nucleus accumbens (NAc), medial preoptic area (POM), and ventral tegmental area (VTA) are implicated in vocal-social behaviors in flocks, including singing. Dopamine (DA) within these regions modifies motivated, reward-directed behaviors. Here, we begin to test the hypothesis that individual social interactions and DA within these regions are involved in the motivation to flock. Vocal-social behaviors were recorded in eighteen male European starlings in mixed-sex flocks in fall, when starlings are highly social and form large flocks. Males were then singly removed from their flock and the motivation to flock was quantified as the amount of time spent attempting to join a flock following separation. We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to measure expression of DA-related genes in the NAc, POM, and VTA. Birds producing high levels of vocal behaviors were more highly motivated to flock and had higher tyrosine hydroxylase (the rate-limiting enzyme in DA synthesis) expression in the NAc and VTA. Birds that received high levels of agonistic behaviors were less motivated to flock and had higher DA receptor subtype 1 expression in the POM. Overall, our findings suggest that interplay between social experience and DA activity in NAc, POM, and VTA plays a key role in social motivation in flocking songbirds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyse N Maksimoski
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America.
| | - Sharon A Stevenson
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America
| | - Brandon J Polzin
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America
| | - Changjiu Zhao
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America
| | - Elsa M Luebke
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America
| | - Lauren V Riters
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America
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Demas G, Greives T, Lutterschmidt D. Introduction to a brain for all seasons: Using seasonality as a model to uncover brain-behavior mechanisms across species. Horm Behav 2023; 150:105328. [PMID: 36805608 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Gregory Demas
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
| | - Timothy Greives
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
| | - Deborah Lutterschmidt
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
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Riters LV, Polzin BJ, Maksimoski AN, Stevenson SA, Alger SJ. Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion. Front Psychol 2022; 13:903857. [PMID: 35814050 PMCID: PMC9258629 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.903857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Birds are not commonly admired for emotional expression, and when they are, the focus is typically on negative states; yet vocal behavior is considered a direct reflection of an individual's emotional state. Given that over 4000 species of songbird produce learned, complex, context-specific vocalizations, we make the case that songbirds are conspicuously broadcasting distinct positive emotional states and that hearing songs can also induce positive states in other birds. Studies are reviewed that demonstrate that that the production of sexually motivated song reflects an emotional state of anticipatory reward-seeking (i.e., mate-seeking), while outside the mating context song in gregarious flocks reflects a state of intrinsic reward. Studies are also reviewed that demonstrate that hearing song induces states of positive anticipation and reward. This review brings together numerous studies that highlight a potentially important role for the songbird nucleus accumbens, a region nearly synonymous with reward in mammals, in positive emotional states that underlie singing behavior and responses to song. It is proposed that the nucleus accumbens is part of an evolutionarily conserved circuitry that contributes context-dependently to positive emotional states that motivate and reward singing behavior and responses to song. Neural mechanisms that underlie basic emotions appear to be conserved and similar across vertebrates. Thus, these findings in songbirds have the potential to provide insights into interventions that can restore positive social interactions disrupted by mental health disorders in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren V. Riters
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Brandon J. Polzin
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Alyse N. Maksimoski
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Sharon A. Stevenson
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Sarah J. Alger
- Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI, United States
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