“Natural Laboratory Complex” for novel primate neuroscience

We propose novel strategies for primate experimentation that are ethically valuable and pragmatically useful for cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychiatric research. Specifically, we propose Natural Laboratory Complex or Natural Labs, which are a combination of indoor-outdoor structures for studying free moving and socially housed primates in natural or naturalistic environment. We contend that Natural Labs are pivotal to improve primate welfare, and at the same time to implement longitudinal and socio-ecological studies of primate brain and behavior. Currently emerging advanced technologies and social systems (including recent COVID-19 induced “remote” infrastructures) can speed-up cognitive neuroscience approaches in freely behaving animals. Experimental approaches in natural(istic) settings are not in competition with conventional approaches of laboratory investigations, and could establish several benefits at the ethical, experimental, and economic levels.Introduction Animal models in neuroscience - The rodent model - The non-human primate model - Optimizing cognitive neuroscience research with animal models Novel strategies for primate experimentation - Natural laboratory complex -- In situ Lab-in-Nature -- Ex situ Nature-in-Lab Harmonization of cost and benefit trade-offs - Ethical balance - Socioeconomic balance - Legal balance Conclusio

A novel mind-set in primate experimentation: Implications for primate welfare

Abstract We emphasize the importance of studying the primate brain in cognitive neuroscience and suggest a new mind-set in primate experimentation within the boundaries of animal welfare regulations. Specifically, we list the advantages of investigating both genes and neural mechanisms and processes in the emergence of behavioral and cognitive functions, and propose the establishment of an open field of primate research. The latter may be conducted by implementing and harmonizing experimental practices with ethical guidelines that regulate (1) management of natural parks with free-moving populations of target nonhuman primates, (2) establishment of indoor-outdoor labs for both system genetics and neuroscience investigations, and (3) hotel space and technologies which remotely collect and dislocate information regarding primates geographically located elsewhere.1 Introduction 2 Animal models in Neurobiology 3 The research domain criteria approach to Neuropsychiatry 4 The open niche of primate experimentation 4.1 Primate natural parks 4.2 Hotel space and remote technologies 5 Cost and benefits trade-offs of primate experimentation 6 Concluding remark

Dynamic Social Adaptation of Motion-Related Neurons in Primate Parietal Cortex

Social brain function, which allows us to adapt our behavior to social context, is poorly understood at the single-cell level due largely to technical limitations. But the questions involved are vital: How do neurons recognize and modulate their activity in response to social context? To probe the mechanisms involved, we developed a novel recording technique, called multi-dimensional recording, and applied it simultaneously in the left parietal cortices of two monkeys while they shared a common social space. When the monkeys sat near each other but did not interact, each monkey's parietal activity showed robust response preference to action by his own right arm and almost no response to action by the other's arm. But the preference was broken if social conflict emerged between the monkeys—specifically, if both were able to reach for the same food item placed on the table between them. Under these circumstances, parietal neurons started to show complex combinatorial responses to motion of self and other. Parietal cortex adapted its response properties in the social context by discarding and recruiting different neural populations. Our results suggest that parietal neurons can recognize social events in the environment linked with current social context and form part of a larger social brain network

Ionization induced by protons on isolated molecules of adenine: theory, modelling and experiment

We here report a comparison between semi-empirical and theoretical predictions in terms of differential and total cross sections for proton-induced ionization of isolated adenine molecules. Whereas the first ones are provided by existing analytical models, the second ones are based on two quantum-mechanical models recently developed within the 1st Born and the continuum distorted wave approximation, respectively. Besides, a large set of experimental data is also reported for comparisons. In all kinematical conditions here investigated, we have observed a very good agreement between theory and experiment whereas strong discrepancieswere reported with the semi-empirical models in particular when doubly-differential cross sections are analysed.Fil: Champion, C.. Universite de Bordeaux; FranciaFil: Galassi, Mariel Elisa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Weck, P. F.. University of Nevada Las Vegas. Department of Chemistry and Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies; Estados UnidosFil: Abdallah, C.. University Saint Joseph. Faculty of Sciences. Department of Physics; LíbanoFil: Francis, Z.. University Saint Joseph. Faculty of Sciences. Department of Physics; Líbano. The Open University. Faculty of Science. Department of Physical Sciences; Reino UnidoFil: Quinto, M. A.. Universite de Bordeaux; FranciaFil: Fojon, Omar Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Rivarola, Roberto Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Hanssen, Jocelyn. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Iriki, Y.. Kyoto University. Department of Nuclear Engineering; JapónFil: Itoh, A.. Kyoto University. Department of Nuclear Engineering; Japó

Tool-Use Training in a Species of Rodent: The Emergence of an Optimal Motor Strategy and Functional Understanding

Tool use is defined as the manipulation of an inanimate object to change the position or form of a separate object. The expansion of cognitive niches and tool-use capabilities probably stimulated each other in hominid evolution. To understand the causes of cognitive expansion in humans, we need to know the behavioral and neural basis of tool use. Although a wide range of animals exhibit tool use in nature, most studies have focused on primates and birds on behavioral or psychological levels and did not directly address questions of which neural modifications contributed to the emergence of tool use. To investigate such questions, an animal model suitable for cellular and molecular manipulations is needed.) to use a rake-like tool with their forelimbs to retrieve otherwise out-of-reach rewards. Eventually, they mastered effective use of the tool, moving it in an elegant trajectory. After the degus were well trained, probe tests that examined whether they showed functional understanding of the tool were performed. Degus did not hesitate to use tools of different size, colors, and shapes, but were reluctant to use the tool with a raised nonfunctional blade. Thus, degus understood the functional and physical properties of the tool after extensive training.Our findings suggest that tool use is not a specific faculty resulting from higher intelligence, but is a specific combination of more general cognitive faculties. Studying the brains and behaviors of trained rodents can provide insights into how higher cognitive functions might be broken down into more general faculties, and also what cellular and molecular mechanisms are involved in the emergence of such cognitive functions

Triadic (ecological, neural, cognitive) niche construction: a scenario of human brain evolution extrapolating tool use and language from the control of reaching actions

Hominin evolution has involved a continuous process of addition of new kinds of cognitive capacity, including those relating to manufacture and use of tools and to the establishment of linguistic faculties. The dramatic expansion of the brain that accompanied additions of new functional areas would have supported such continuous evolution. Extended brain functions would have driven rapid and drastic changes in the hominin ecological niche, which in turn demanded further brain resources to adapt to it. In this way, humans have constructed a novel niche in each of the ecological, cognitive and neural domains, whose interactions accelerated their individual evolution through a process of triadic niche construction. Human higher cognitive activity can therefore be viewed holistically as one component in a terrestrial ecosystem. The brain's functional characteristics seem to play a key role in this triadic interaction. We advance a speculative argument about the origins of its neurobiological mechanisms, as an extension (with wider scope) of the evolutionary principles of adaptive function in the animal nervous system. The brain mechanisms that subserve tool use may bridge the gap between gesture and language—the site of such integration seems to be the parietal and extending opercular cortices

Tool-use learning by common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

One of the most critical and common features of tool use is that the tool essentially functions as a part of the body. This feature is likely rooted in biological features that are shared by tool users. To establish an ideal primate model to explore the neurobiological mechanisms supporting tool-use behaviours, we trained common marmosets, a small New World monkey species that is not usually associated with tool use, to use a rake-shaped tool to retrieve food. Five naive common marmosets were systematically trained to manipulate the tool using a 4-stage, step-by-step protocol. The relative positions of the tool and the food were manipulated, so that the marmosets were required to (1) pull the tool vertically, (2) move the tool horizontally, (3) make an arc to retrieve a food item located behind the tool and (4) retrieve the food item. We found considerable individual differences in tool-use technique; for example, one animal consistently used a unilateral hand movement for all of the steps, whereas the others (n = 4) used both hands to move the tool depending on the location of the food item. After extensive training, all of the marmosets could manipulate the rake-shaped tool, which is reported in this species for the first time. The common marmoset is thus a model primate for such studies. This study sets the stage for future research to examine the biological mechanisms underlying the cognitive ability of tool use at the molecular and genetic levels

Neural changes in the primate brain correlated with the evolution of complex motor skills

Complex motor skills of eventual benefit can be learned after considerable trial and error. What do structural brain changes that accompany such effortful long-term learning tell us about the mechanisms for developing innovative behavior? Using MRI, we monitored brain structure before, during and after four marmosets learnt to use a rake, over a long period of 10–13 months. Throughout learning, improvements in dexterity and visuo-motor co-ordination correlated with increased volume in the lateral extrastriate cortex. During late learning, when the most complex behavior was maintained by sustained motivation to acquire the skill, the volume of the nucleus accumbens increased. These findings reflect the motivational state required to learn, and show accelerated function in higher visual cortex that is consistent with neurocognitive divergence across a spectrum of primate species

Culture and Evolution

This chapter captures extensive discussions between people with different forms of expertise and viewpoints. It explores the relationships between language and music in evolutionary and cultural context. Rather than trying to essentialize either, they are characterized pragmatically in terms of features that appear to distinguish them (such as language’s compositional propositionality as opposed to music’s foregrounding of isochronicity), and those that they evidently share. Factors are considered that consti- tute proximate motivations for humans to communicate through language and music, ranging from language’s practical value in the organization of collective behavior to music’s significant role in eliciting and managing prosocial attitudes. Possible distal motivations are reviewed for music and language, in terms of the potentially adap- tive functions of human communication systems, and an assessment is made of the advantages which might accrue to flexible communicators in the light of ethological and archaeological evidence concerning the landscape of selection. Subsequently, the possible evolutionary relationships between music and language are explored, within a framework supplied by six possible models of their emergence. Issues of the roles of culture and of biology in the evolution of communication systems are then addressed within the framework of triadic niche construction, and the chapter concludes by sur- veying available comparative and phylogenetic issues that might inform the debate