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Audet JN, Kayello L, Ducatez S, Perillo S, Cauchard L, Howard JT, O’Connell LA, Jarvis ED, Lefebvre L. Divergence in problem-solving skills is associated with differential expression of glutamate receptors in wild finches. Sci Adv 2018; 4:eaao6369. [PMID: 29546239 PMCID: PMC5851658 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao6369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Problem solving and innovation are key components of intelligence. We compare wild-caught individuals from two species that are close relatives of Darwin's finches, the innovative Loxigilla barbadensis, and its most closely related species in Barbados, the conservative Tiaris bicolor. We found an all-or-none difference in the problem-solving capacity of the two species. Brain RNA sequencing analyses revealed interspecific differences in genes related to neuronal and synaptic plasticity in the intrapallial neural populations (mesopallium and nidopallium), especially in the nidopallium caudolaterale, a structure functionally analogous to the mammalian prefrontal cortex. At a finer scale, we discovered robust differences in glutamate receptor expression between the species. In particular, the GRIN2B/GRIN2A ratio, known to correlate with synaptic plasticity, was higher in the innovative L. barbadensis. These findings suggest that divergence in avian intelligence is associated with similar neuronal mechanisms to that of mammals, including humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Nicolas Audet
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
- Rockefeller University Field Research Center, 495 Tyrrel Road, Millbrook, NY 12545, USA
| | - Lima Kayello
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Simon Ducatez
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Sara Perillo
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Laure Cauchard
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, C. P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Jason T. Howard
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Lauren A. O’Connell
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Erich D. Jarvis
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, 311 Research Drive, Durham, NC 27705, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Louis Lefebvre
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
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Brown GE, Ferrari MCO, Malka PH, Fregeau L, Kayello L, Chivers DP. Retention of acquired predator recognition among shy versus bold juvenile rainbow trout. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-012-1422-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Gaskin S, Tardif M, Cole E, Piterkin P, Kayello L, Mumby DG. Object familiarization and novel-object preference in rats. Behav Processes 2009; 83:61-71. [PMID: 19874876 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2009.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2009] [Revised: 10/10/2009] [Accepted: 10/16/2009] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
We investigated whether object familiarization was related to novel-object preference in the novel-object preference (NOP) test in rats. In Experiment 1, we found that no significant correlation existed between the time spent investigating 2 identical copies of a sample object and the degree of preference for a novel object. In Experiment 2, rats investigated 2 identical sample objects for a total of 5, 30, 60, 90 or 120s. Investigatory preference for the novel object was compared to chance expectancy as well as between the groups. Only the 90-s group and the 120-s group displayed above-chance investigatory preference for the novel object, but novel-object preference for these 2 groups did not differ from each other, suggesting that a minimal amount of sample object investigation is necessary for rats to develop a novel-object preference, beyond which no increase in novel-object preference was found. In Experiments 3 and 4, normal rats and rats with hippocampal lesions were given repeated test trials, with the same sample object presented with a different novel object, at 24-h and (Experiment 3) and 35-s intervals (Experiment 4). In both experiments, novel-object preference did not increase in magnitude with repeated sample object exposures, suggesting that increased familiarity with the sample object does not result in increased novel-object preference. Rats with lesions of the dorsal hippocampus showed an unreliable investigatory preference for the novel object. These results are discussed in terms of the potential limitations of the NOP test as a tool for the assessment of object-recognition memory in rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephane Gaskin
- Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
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