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Neuroecology
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- June 19, 2012
- 05:46 PM
- 373 views
How little we know about the neuroscience of fatherhood
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Fathers caring for their children is the general rule across most vertebrates; almost all nonmammalian vertebrates use fathers as a prime caregiver. And yet, the world of neuroscience knows little about paternal care. This is partly because the males of our common laboratory species, the lab mouse and rat, are more likely to eat their [...]... Read more »
Gordon I, Zagoory-Sharon O, Leckman JF, & Feldman R. (2010) Prolactin, Oxytocin, and the development of paternal behavior across the first six months of fatherhood. Hormones and behavior, 58(3), 513-8. PMID: 20399783
- June 15, 2012
- 12:22 PM
- 369 views
Testosterone: cooperation or competition?
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
In my last post, I gave an introduction into a couple aspects of testosterone: how it rises and falls, and how it affects decision-making. I forgot to mention that, neurally, it appears to act substantially through three areas of the brain: the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The nucleus accumbens is a major [...]... Read more »
Eisenegger, C., Naef, M., Snozzi, R., Heinrichs, M., & Fehr, E. (2010) Prejudice and truth about the effect of testosterone on human bargaining behaviour. Nature, 463(7279), 356-359. DOI: 10.1038/nature08711
van Honk, J., Montoya, E., Bos, P., van Vugt, M., & Terburg, D. (2012) New evidence on testosterone and cooperation. Nature, 485(7399). DOI: 10.1038/nature11136
Oxford, J., Ponzi, D., & Geary, D. (2010) Hormonal responses differ when playing violent video games against an ingroup and outgroup. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(3), 201-209. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.07.002
- June 8, 2012
- 06:15 AM
- 338 views
How social status determines your health
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
You wouldn’t think how people perceive you could directly affect your health, would you? Luckily, science is here to save the day and to tell you, you’re wrong. A pair of papers published in PNAS in the last month have investigated the interaction between social status and health, and the findings compliment each other rather nicely. [...]... Read more »
Archie, E., Altmann, J., & Alberts, S. (2012) Social status predicts wound healing in wild baboons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(23), 9017-9022. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1206391109
Tung J, Barreiro LB, Johnson ZP, Hansen KD, Michopoulos V, Toufexis D, Michelini K, Wilson ME, & Gilad Y. (2012) Social environment is associated with gene regulatory variation in the rhesus macaque immune system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(17), 6490-5. PMID: 22493251
- July 5, 2012
- 09:27 AM
- 334 views
Old bees get a new lease on life (through glutamate!)
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Have you ever heard a story about an elderly person who seems surprisingly fine and with it in the outside world, but is then transferred to a nursing home where they quickly slide from their mental peak? Have you ever stayed at home all day, playing video games (ahem) and feeling a bit sluggish only [...]... Read more »
Baker et al. (2012) Age-related learning deficits can be reversible in honeybees Apis mellifera . Experimental Gerontology. DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2012.05.011
- June 6, 2012
- 02:14 PM
- 327 views
What sleep deprivation and low social status have in common
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When you wake up in the morning, you probably don’t always feel 100% on top of things. Besides feeling drowsy, you make decisions more slowly than you do when you are wide awake. Things are different! But maybe that cup of coffee will help you out… What’s going on in your brain? It’s been known [...]... Read more »
Volkow, N., Tomasi, D., Wang, G., Telang, F., Fowler, J., Logan, J., Benveniste, H., Kim, R., Thanos, P., & Ferre, S. (2012) Evidence That Sleep Deprivation Downregulates Dopamine D2R in Ventral Striatum in the Human Brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(19), 6711-6717. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0045-12.2012
Morgan, D., Grant, K., Gage, H., Mach, R., Kaplan, J., Prioleau, O., Nader, S., Buchheimer, N., Ehrenkaufer, R., & Nader, M. (2002) Social dominance in monkeys: dopamine D2 receptors and cocaine self-administration. Nature Neuroscience, 5(2), 169-174. DOI: 10.1038/nn798
- June 13, 2012
- 07:57 PM
- 318 views
Testosterone: an introduction
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Today I want to talk about testosterone. I had intended for this post to be a short one, but then I kept digging and digging and, well, it turns out that testosterone is a pretty interesting subject. What I’m going to do today is give a bit of a review on it, and talk about [...]... Read more »
Trumble, B., Cummings, D., von Rueden, C., O'Connor, K., Smith, E., Gurven, M., & Kaplan, H. (2012) Physical competition increases testosterone among Amazonian forager-horticulturalists: a test of the 'challenge hypothesis'. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1739), 2907-2912. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0455
Wright, N., Bahrami, B., Johnson, E., Di Malta, G., Rees, G., Frith, C., & Dolan, R. (2012) Testosterone disrupts human collaboration by increasing egocentric choices. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1736), 2275-2280. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.2523
Stanton, S., Liening, S., & Schultheiss, O. (2011) Testosterone is positively associated with risk taking in the Iowa Gambling Task. Hormones and Behavior, 59(2), 252-256. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.12.003
Stanton, S., Mullette-Gillman, O., McLaurin, R., Kuhn, C., LaBar, K., Platt, M., & Huettel, S. (2011) Low- and High-Testosterone Individuals Exhibit Decreased Aversion to Economic Risk. Psychological Science, 22(4), 447-453. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611401752
- July 13, 2012
- 01:56 PM
- 298 views
Economic incentives and social behavior
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When studying decision-making in neuroscience, experimenters like to have participants be rewarded with money – or units of juice or ‘points’ or suchlike. Although this may seem like a natural way to measure decisions, we have to step back and ask ourselves whether using this as a basis for reward will affects decision-making in anyway. [...]... Read more »
Samuel Bowles, & Sandra Polania-Reyes. (2011) Economic incentives and social preferences: substitutes or complements? . Journal of Economic Literature. DOI: 10.1257/jel.50.2.368
- July 18, 2012
- 03:07 PM
- 283 views
The best way to extort an extortionist is to be fair
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
One of the favorite games to study cooperation is the iterated prisoner’s dilemma. It is a game that lets players cooperate or defect, with the most beneficial strategy overall being both cooperating, but the best for a single player is to defect while the other player cooperates. The most famously successful strategy is tit-for-tat: cooperate [...]... Read more »
Press WH, & Dyson FJ. (2012) Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma contains strategies that dominate any evolutionary opponent. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(26), 10409-13. PMID: 22615375
- August 1, 2012
- 02:28 PM
- 278 views
Testosterone and social aggression
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Testosterone will probably always be linked in people’s minds with aggressive behaviors, but its role in behavior is a source of controversy. Why it rises when it does – and whether it causes aggression or merely responds to it – is not clear, although recent studies that directly inject testosterone into an animal has begun [...]... Read more »
Rosvall KA, Bergeon Burns CM, Barske J, Goodson JL, Schlinger BA, Sengelaub DR, & Ketterson ED. (2012) Neural sensitivity to sex steroids predicts individual differences in aggression: implications for behavioural evolution. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 279(1742), 3547-55. PMID: 22673360
Vergara P, & Martínez-Padilla J. (2012) Social context decouples the relationship between a sexual ornament and testosterone levels in a male wild bird. Hormones and behavior. PMID: 22841824
KA Rosvall, DG Reichard, SM Ferguson, DJ Whittaker, & ED Ketterson. (2012) Robust behavioral effects of song playback in the absence of testosterone or corticosterone release. Hormones and Behavior. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.07.009
- May 18, 2012
- 03:31 AM
- 269 views
How social status affects your brain
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When you get into work in the morning, you might say hi to your coworkers and complain for awhile about your boss. Then maybe you joke with the janitor, only to flee when you see your boss headed to your desk. Each of these interactions – as is every interaction between individuals -is deeply embedded [...]... Read more »
Issa, F., Drummond, J., Cattaert, D., & Edwards, D. (2012) Neural Circuit Reconfiguration by Social Status. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(16), 5638-5645. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5668-11.2012
- July 10, 2012
- 04:29 PM
- 238 views
Learning: positive and negative
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Reward and punishment operate through two very different pathways in the human brain. The general idea is that these two types of learning – positive and negative – operate through different unique types of dopamine receptors. The D1 receptors (D1R) are generally ‘positive’ receptors, while the D2 receptors (D2R) are ‘negative’. Specifically, D1Rs generally tend [...]... Read more »
Kravitz AV, Tye LD, & Kreitzer AC. (2012) Distinct roles for direct and indirect pathway striatal neurons in reinforcement. Nature neuroscience. PMID: 22544310
- September 12, 2012
- 12:09 AM
- 210 views
The straw that broke the camel’s back
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
One of the most interesting things in neuroscience is that we find again and again that the different nervous systems come up with the same solutions to related problems. Take the ability to make a decision – something that is about as basic and fundamental as you get, while needing to be applied to all [...]... Read more »
Stevenson PA, & Rillich J. (2012) The decision to fight or flee - insights into underlying mechanism in crickets. Frontiers in neuroscience, 118. PMID: 22936896
- September 13, 2012
- 03:51 PM
- 193 views
You eat what you are
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Following up on my recent post on scientists trawling the silk road in search of taste receptor variants, there’s serendipitous news out that a set of polymorphisms have been found that determines whether you think cilantro tastes like soap or like heaven! Our good friends at 23andme analyzed their database of users who responded to [...]... Read more »
Nicholas Eriksson,, Shirley Wu,, Chuong B. Do,, Amy K. Kiefer,, Joyce Y. Tung,, Joanna L. Mountain,, David A. Hinds,, & Uta Francke. (2012) A genetic variant near olfactory receptor genes influences cilantro preference. arxiv. info:/
- September 24, 2012
- 11:36 AM
- 186 views
Individuals, groups, and decisions
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
Imagine buying something from a friend: do you think you’d give him a better or worse offer than you’d give a stranger? Would you buy something you might not normally want if pressured into it by a friend? The thing is, our preferences and decisions aren’t consistent from moment to moment, they’re always changing. One [...]... Read more »
G Charness, & M Sutter. (2012) Groups make better self-interested decisions. Journal of Economic Perspectives. DOI: 10.1257/jep.26.3.157
Rand DG, Greene JD, & Nowak MA. (2012) Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature, 489(7416), 427-30. PMID: 22996558
- September 26, 2012
- 09:39 AM
- 170 views
Round 1: FIGHT
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
I don’t know about you, but when I was in High School, I was treated to a close-up of more than a few fights (none including me, of course). If you’d asked me, if those fights were totally random I probably would have said no: the two guys – and it was almost always guys [...]... Read more »
Daniels BC, Krakauer DC, & Flack JC. (2012) Sparse code of conflict in a primate society. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1203021109
- January 14, 2013
- 01:55 PM
- 156 views
The in-between of nature and nurture
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
There’s a debate that never seems to die down, and it’s one of nature versus nurture. It’s a bit of a silly debate because the answer in every debate is (almost) always “both”, but it does seem to get a lot of play. And it’s even sillier when you realize that one can ask the question about [...]... Read more »
Riffell, J., Lei, H., Abrell, L., & Hildebrand, J. (2012) Neural Basis of a Pollinator's Buffet: Olfactory Specialization and Learning in Manduca sexta. Science, 339(6116), 200-204. DOI: 10.1126/science.1225483
- January 30, 2013
- 02:13 PM
- 152 views
Never make a decision on an empty stomach… or a full stomach…
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
You are hungry already and dinner is hours away. You’re getting irritable and making stupid decisions that you normally wouldn’t. Or maybe you just had a big meal and you’re sated. Your friend who is seated next to you turns and asks for a favor; you pleasantly agree and sink into your chair sleepily. What’s [...]... Read more »
Burghardt, P., Love, T., Stohler, C., Hodgkinson, C., Shen, P., Enoch, M., Goldman, D., & Zubieta, J. (2012) Leptin Regulates Dopamine Responses to Sustained Stress in Humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(44), 15369-15376. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2521-12.2012
Cocker, P., Dinelle, K., Kornelson, R., Sossi, V., & Winstanley, C. (2012) Irrational Choice under Uncertainty Correlates with Lower Striatal D2/3 Receptor Binding in Rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(44), 15450-15457. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0626-12.2012
Dunn, J., Kessler, R., Feurer, I., Volkow, N., Patterson, B., Ansari, M., Li, R., Marks-Shulman, P., & Abumrad, N. (2012) Relationship of Dopamine Type 2 Receptor Binding Potential With Fasting Neuroendocrine Hormones and Insulin Sensitivity in Human Obesity. Diabetes Care, 35(5), 1105-1111. DOI: 10.2337/dc11-2250
- January 24, 2013
- 01:02 PM
- 123 views
A mechanics of depression
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
There are many reactions that can be taken in response to the world going crazy on you, and depression is one of these. Even though it is (rightly) seen as perhaps not the greatest illness to have, there is a case to be made that depression is an energetically-efficient response to overwhelming stress; it can [...]... Read more »
Chaudhury, D., Walsh, J., Friedman, A., Juarez, B., Ku, S., Koo, J., Ferguson, D., Tsai, H., Pomeranz, L., Christoffel, D.... (2012) Rapid regulation of depression-related behaviours by control of midbrain dopamine neurons. Nature, 493(7433), 532-536. DOI: 10.1038/nature11713
Tye, K., Mirzabekov, J., Warden, M., Ferenczi, E., Tsai, H., Finkelstein, J., Kim, S., Adhikari, A., Thompson, K., Andalman, A.... (2012) Dopamine neurons modulate neural encoding and expression of depression-related behaviour. Nature, 493(7433), 537-541. DOI: 10.1038/nature11740
Warden, M., Selimbeyoglu, A., Mirzabekov, J., Lo, M., Thompson, K., Kim, S., Adhikari, A., Tye, K., Frank, L., & Deisseroth, K. (2012) A prefrontal cortex–brainstem neuronal projection that controls response to behavioural challenge. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11617
Amat, J., Baratta, M., Paul, E., Bland, S., Watkins, L., & Maier, S. (2005) Medial prefrontal cortex determines how stressor controllability affects behavior and dorsal raphe nucleus. Nature Neuroscience, 8(3), 365-371. DOI: 10.1038/nn1399
- April 24, 2013
- 02:41 PM
- 69 views
Vision is for decision
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
When we typically think of how decision-making works in the brain, we think of new input coming in, perhaps through the eyes or ears, being processed in the relevant sensory areas, and then sent to the ‘decision-making’ areas (the basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, or anterior cingulate cortex) where this information is used to make a decision. [...]... Read more »
Chubykin, A., Roach, E., Bear, M., & Shuler, M. (2013) A Cholinergic Mechanism for Reward Timing within Primary Visual Cortex. Neuron, 77(4), 723-735. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.12.039
- May 2, 2013
- 05:39 PM
- 68 views
Jumping off of bridges
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
No man is an island, entire of itself. Although we like to think of our decisions occurring in a vacuum, in reality we’re bombarded with information on how other people are deciding all the time. It would be shocking if our decisions weren’t influenced by the behavior of other people – and, obviously, a wide range [...]... Read more »
Wolf, M., Kurvers, R., Ward, A., Krause, S., & Krause, J. (2013) Accurate decisions in an uncertain world: collective cognition increases true positives while decreasing false positives. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1756), 20122777-20122777. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2777
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