Technical and conceptual considerations for using animated stimuli in studies of animal behavior

© The Author (2016). Rapid technical advances in the field of computer animation (CA) and virtual reality (VR) have opened new avenues in animal behavior research. Animated stimuli are powerful tools as they offer standardization, repeatability, and complete control over the stimulus presented, thereby "reducing" and "replacing" the animals used, and "refining" the experimental design in line with the 3Rs. However, appropriate use of these technologies raises conceptual and technical questions. In this review, we offer guidelines for common technical and conceptual considerations related to the use of animated stimuli in animal behavior research. Following the steps required to create an animated stimulus, we discuss (I) the creation, (II) the presentation, and (III) the validation of CAs and VRs. Although our review is geared toward computer-graphically designed stimuli, considerations on presentation and validation also apply to video playbacks. CA and VR allow both new behavioral questions to be addressed and existing questions to be addressed in new ways, thus we expect a rich future for these methods in both ultimate and proximate studies of animal behavior

A systematic review and meta-analysis of lifestyle interventions in women of reproductive age with overweight or obesity:the effects on symptoms of depression and anxiety

Obesity is a rising problem, especially among women of reproductive age. Overweight and obesity reduce both physical and mental health. Lifestyle interventions could have beneficial effects on both, but an overview of the effects on mental health, especially in women of reproductive age, is currently lacking. Therefore, the aim of this review was to assess the effect of lifestyle interventions on symptoms of depression and anxiety in women of reproductive age with overweight or obesity. The databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO were searched from inception to June 2018 for published randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We included lifestyle intervention RCTs in women of reproductive age with overweight or obesity that assessed effects on symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. The difference between baseline and post-intervention scores on symptoms of depression and anxiety for the intervention and control group was analysed. Meta-analysis was performed with a random effects model. The search resulted in 5,316 citations, and after screening five RCTs were included, in which 571 women were randomized. The effect of lifestyle interventions on depression scores was investigated among 224 women from five RCTs. The pooled estimate for the mean difference was −1.35 (95% CI, −2.36 to −0.35, p = 0.008). The effect of lifestyle interventions on anxiety levels was studied among 148 women from four RCTs, resulting in a pooled estimate of −1.74 (−2.62 to −0.87, p < 0.001). Based on five RCTs, meta-analyses showed that lifestyle interventions in women of reproductive age with overweight or obesity consistently reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety

The dominant role of visual motion cues in bumblebee flight control revealed through virtual reality

Flying bees make extensive use of optic flow: the apparent motion in the visual scene generated by their own movement. Much of what is known about bees’ visually-guided flight comes from experiments employing real physical objects, which constrains the types of cues that can be presented. Here we implement a virtual reality system allowing us to create the visual illusion of objects in 3D space. We trained bumblebees, Bombus ignitus, to feed from a static target displayed on the floor of a flight arena, and then observed their responses to various interposing virtual objects. When a virtual floor was presented above the physical floor, bees were reluctant to descend through it, indicating that they perceived the virtual floor as a real surface. To reach a target at ground level, they flew through a hole in a virtual surface above the ground, and around an elevated virtual platform, despite receiving no reward for avoiding the virtual obstacles. These behaviors persisted even when the target was made (unrealistically) visible through the obstructing object. Finally, we challenged the bees with physically impossible ambiguous stimuli, which give conflicting motion and occlusion cues. In such cases, they behaved in accordance with the motion information, seemingly ignoring occlusion

Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on nutrition improvement and weight of overweight and obese adolescents: a randomized controlled trial

Aim: To assess the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) program on weight reduction among Iranian adolescents who are overweight. Methods: Using a randomized controlled trial design, 55 adolescents who were overweight (mean [SD] age=14.64 [1.69] years; zBMI=2.18 [0.65]) were recruited in the CBT program and 55 in the treatment as usual (TAU; mean age=14.88 [1.50]; zBMI=2.09 [0.57]) group. All the participants completed several questionnaires (Child Dietary Self-Efficacy Scale; Weight Efficacy Lifestyle questionnaire; Physical Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale; Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory; and self-reported physical activity and diet) and had their anthropometrics measured (height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, and body fat). Results: The CBT group consumed significantly more fruits and juice, vegetables, and dairy in the 6-month follow- up as compared with the TAU group (p-values <0.001). The CBT group consumed significantly less sweet snacks, salty snacks, sweet drinks, sausages/processed meat, and oils in the six-month follow-up compared with the TAU group (p-values<0.001). Additionally, the waist circumference, BMI, waist-hip ratio, and fat mass were significantly decreased in the CBT group in the six-month follow-up compared with the TAU group (p-values<0.005). The CBT group significantly improved their psychosocial health, physical activity, and health-related quality of life (p-values<0.001). Conclusion: The CBT program showed its effectiveness in reducing weight among Iranian adolescents who were overweight. Healthcare providers may want to adopt this program to treat excess weight problems for adolescents

Comparative visual cognition in jumping spiders

Thesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.1. Introduction -- 2. Electric shock for aversion training of jumping spiders: towards an arachnid model of avoidance learning -- 3. Factors influencing place avoidance learning and memory in a jumping spider -- 4. Jumping spiders ignore predictive visual information in an active avoidance conditioning task -- 5. A virtual reality paradigm for the study of visually mediated behaviour and cognition in spiders -- 6. Visual working memory in jumping spiders: an expectancy violation paradigm in virtual reality -- 7. General discussion -- Appendices.Uncertainty is a common feature of the natural world. Associative learning, which enables animals to form predictive relationships between contingent events, reduces uncertainty and equips animals to respond adaptively. Associative learning is widespread across the animal kingdom, and has been particularly well characterized in a few key invertebrate model taxa. Invertebrates exhibit a broad repertoire of associative learning abilities, have significant molecular overlap with vertebrate systems, and are considerably more amenable to analyses at cellular and behavioural levels. Jumping spiders (Salticidae) - and arachnids as a whole - have been underrepresented in the comparative cognition literature but possess many traits that make them suitable and interesting models. The principle aim of this thesis was to begin to bridge the gap between spiders and traditional invertebrate model taxa. To do so, I developed methods that permitted rigorous and repeatable analysis of cognitive processes, and assessed how salticids integrate different sources of information during learning and meVmory. My research focuses on an Australian salticid, Servaea incana, but the methods and principles developed here should be relevant to other cursorial arachnids or invertebrates in which vision is well developed. I develop a novel method to produce electric shock platforms that is precise, easy to use, and highly repeatable, and isolate the changes in mobility and behaviour that are dependent on shock. Additionally, to overcome the constraints of commonly used playback methods, I develop an immersive, closed-loop virtual reality system tailored for studies of salticid cognition. Using passive and active avoidance conditioning assays coupled with the aversive electric shock stimulus, and a change detection paradigm in virtual reality, I characterize the critical determinants of learning and memory in salticids. These experiments reveal that the ecological relevance, or ‘salience’ of available visual cues, together with hunger level and the temporal nature of the training protocol, play a significant role in determining performance. At the same time, when spiders are provided with a number of cues predicting an aversive event, they learn an operant escape response while ignoring reliable visual information. These results are very surprising given the extent to which vision is known to mediate behaviour and decision making in jumping spiders.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 141 pages) illustration

Place avoidance learning and memory in a jumping spider

Using a conditioned passive place avoidance paradigm, we investigated the relative importance of three experimental parameters on learning and memory in a salticid, Servaea incana. Spiders encountered an aversive electric shock stimulus paired with one side of a two-sided arena. Our three parameters were the ecological relevance of the visual stimulus, the time interval between trials and the time interval before test. We paired electric shock with either a black or white visual stimulus, as prior studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that S. incana prefer dark ‘safe’ regions to light ones. We additionally evaluated the influence of two temporal features (time interval between trials and time interval before test) on learning and memory. Spiders exposed to the shock stimulus learned to associate shock with the visual background cue, but the extent to which they did so was dependent on which visual stimulus was present and the time interval between trials. Spiders trained with a long interval between trials (24 h) maintained performance throughout training, whereas spiders trained with a short interval (10 min) maintained performance only when the safe side was black. When the safe side was white, performance worsened steadily over time. There was no difference between spiders tested after a short (10 min) or long (24 h) interval before test. These results suggest that the ecological relevance of the stimuli used and the duration of the interval between trials can influence learning and memory in jumping spiders.10 page(s

A Virtual reality paradigm for the study of visually mediated behaviour and cognition in spiders

Jumping spiders (Salticidae) are well known for their unique, high-acuity visual system and complex, visually mediated behaviour. To overcome the limitations of video playback and other open loop systems that are currently available for the study of visually mediated behaviour in jumping spiders, we developed a closed-loop, virtual reality (VR) system in which a spider on a spherical treadmill walks through a projected 3D world that updates in real time in response to its movements. To investigate VR as an experimental technique for spiders as well as validate it as a proxy of the real world, we conducted two experiments to assess whether individual behavioural tendencies and learning transferred from real to virtual environments. In the first experiment, we examined transference of individual behaviour tendencies (spontaneous locomotion and dark/light preference) between real and VR environments, and found that individual differences were conserved. In the second experiment, we investigated transference of beacon-learning tasks between real and VR environments. We found that spiders that had learned a beacon-nest site association in the real world tended to expresses similar associations in the virtual world. Virtual reality offers great promise as a new tool to explore the cognitive processes underlying vision-mediated learning, memory and navigation in jumping spiders.9 page(s

Electric shock for aversion training of jumping spiders : towards an arachnid model of avoidance learning

Electric shock is used widely as an aversive stimulus in conditioning experiments, yet little attention has been given to its physiological effects and their consequences for bioassays. In the present study, we provide a detailed characterization of how electric shock affects the mobility and behaviour of Servaea incana, a jumping spider. We begin with four mobility assays and then narrow our focus to a single effective assay with which we assess performance and behaviour. Based on our findings, we suggest a voltage range that may be employed as an aversive stimulus while minimizing decrements in physical performance and other aspects of behaviour. Additionally, we outline a novel method for constructing electric shock platforms that overcome some of the constraints of traditional methods while being highly effective and easily modifiable to suit the study animal and experimental context. Finally, as a demonstration of the viability of our aversive stimulus in a passive avoidance conditioning task, we successfully train spiders to associate a dark compartment with electric shock. Future research using electric shock as an aversive stimulus with terrestrial invertebrates such as spiders and insects may benefit from the flexible and reliable methods outlined in the present study.6 page(s

A systematic review and narrative synthesis of interventions for uncomplicated obesity : weight loss, well-being and impact on eating disorders

Objective: Most weight loss research focuses on weight as the primary outcome, often to the exclusion of other physiological or psychological measures. This study aims to provide a holistic evaluation of the effects from weight loss interventions for individuals with obesity by examining the physiological, psychological and eating disorders outcomes from these interventions. Methods: Databases Medline, PsycInfo and Cochrane Library (2011-2016) were searched for randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews of obesity treatments (dietary, exercise, behavioural, psychological, pharmacological or surgical). Data extracted included study features, risk of bias, study outcomes, and an assessment of treatment impacts on physical, psychological or eating disorder outcomes. Results: From 3628 novel records, 134 studies met all inclusion criteria and were evaluated in this review. Lifestyle interventions had the strongest evidence base as a first-line approach, with escalation to pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery in more severe or complicated cases. Quality of life was the most common psychological outcome measure, and improved in all cases where it was assessed, across all intervention types. Behavioural, psychological and lifestyle interventions for weight loss led to improvements in cognitive restraint, control over eating and binge eating, while bariatric surgery led to improvements in eating behaviour and body image that were not sustained over the long-term. Discussion: Numerous treatment strategies have been trialled to assist people to lose weight and many of these are effective over the short-term. Quality of life, and to a lesser degree depression, anxiety and psychosocial function, often improve alongside weight loss. Weight loss is also associated with improvements in eating disorder psychopathology and related measures, although overall, eating disorder outcomes are rarely assessed. Further research and between-sector collaboration is required to address the significant overlap in risk factors, diagnoses and treatment outcomes between obesity and eating disorders

Biogenic amines as mediators of spider behavior

Biogenic amines, such as serotonin and octopamine, are important mediators of behavior in both vertebrates and invertebrates, with remarkably consistent patterns apparent over vast taxonomic ranges. Spiders are popular model systems for behavior research, but little is known about physiological mediators of spider behavior, especially about the role of biogenic amines. We quantified base-line levels of biogenic amines at different life stages of the jumping spider Servaea incana, and considered the role of biogenic amines as mediators of intraspecfic interactions. Base-line levels of biogenic amines might be linked to resource holding potential such that winners and losers tend to differ in base-line levels at the beginning of contests. Alternatively, the winning or losing of contests might induce changes in base-line levels such that winners and losers might be similar in levels of biogenic amines at the beginning of a contest but differ at the end. To address this, we staged contests between size-matched S. incana males and measured levels of biogenic amines either immediately after the contest or three days later as well as in control groups that did not experience contests.1 page(s