Animal Behavior and Cognition

Contextual and Combinatorial Structure in Sperm Whale Vocalisations

1. Pratyusha Sharma
2. Shane Gero
3. Roger Payne
4. David F. Gruber
5. Daniela Rus
6. Antonio Torralba
7. Jacob Andreas

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Acute avoidance of hydrogen sulfide is modulated by external and internal states in C. elegans

1. Longjun Pu
2. Lina Zhao
3. Jing Wang
4. Johan Henriksson
5. Patrick Laurent
6. Changchun Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The manuscript aims to better understand the mechanisms underlying the behavioral responses of C. elegans to hydrogen sulfide, a toxin known to exert remarkable effects on animal physiology in a range of contexts. To this end, the authors provide a series of useful findings regarding the mechanisms by which hydrogen sulfide may be sensed, their relationships to other gas-sensing pathways, and the role of a variety of physiological pathways in responding to hydrogen sulfide exposure. While some of the findings are solid, other aspects of the paper are incomplete, such that some claims are incompletely supported, and an integrated understanding of the authors' observations does not clearly emerge.

Reviewed by eLife

A preclinical model of THC edibles that produces high-dose cannabimimetic responses

1. Anthony English
2. Fleur Uittenbogaard
3. Alexa Torrens
4. Dennis Sarroza
5. Anna Veronica Elizabeth Slaven
6. Daniele Piomelli
7. Michael R Bruchas
8. Nephi Stella
9. Benjamin Bruce Land

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study presents the validation of an oral delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) consumption mouse model utilizing highly palatable e-capsule gelatin. The results convincingly demonstrate that oral consumption produced THC behavioral and physiological effects, as well as measurable brain levels. The utility of the model for chronic consumption remains to be determined. The authors have clearly acknowledged limitations of their model and areas for future study and development. As the field of cannabinoid research moves toward application of routes of administration that mimic human use, these model systems will be pivotal in assessing the effects of cannabinoid-based drugs.

Reviewed by eLife

Recursive self-embedded vocal motifs in wild orangutans

1. Adriano R Lameira
2. Madeleine E Hardus
3. Andrea Ravignani
4. Teresa Raimondi
5. Marco Gamba

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The paper represents a novel application of recursion theory to the long call vocalisations of orangutans to demonstrate repetitive, rhythmic sub-structuring. The authors use detailed acoustic analyses to show compelling evidence for self-embedded and nested isochronic motifs. These fundamental results have the potential to significantly advance current approaches used to compare nonhuman communication systems with human language.

Reviewed by eLife

Interactive bioacoustic playback as a tool for detecting and exploring nonhuman intelligence: “conversing” with an Alaskan humpback whale

1. Brenda McCowan
2. Josephine Hubbard
3. Lisa Walker
4. Fred Sharpe
5. Jodi Frediani
6. Laurance Doyle

Reviewed by PeerJ

Collaborative hunting in artificial agents with deep reinforcement learning

1. Kazushi Tsutsui
2. Ryoya Tanaka
3. Kazuya Takeda
4. Keisuke Fujii

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this study, deep learning methods are deployed in the context of a group hunting scenario wherein two predators pursue a single prey. Through deep learning, the two predators achieve higher predation success than occurs with single predators. Much of the evidence in this important study is solid, with implications for future work on the ethology and simulation of cooperative behaviors.

Reviewed by eLife

Resource-rational account of sequential effects in human prediction

1. Arthur Prat-Carrabin
2. Florent Meyniel
3. Rava Azeredo da Silveira

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work is relevant to understanding how people represent uncertain events in the world around them and make decisions, with broad applications to economic behavior. It addresses a long-standing empirical puzzle from a novel perspective, where the authors propose that sequential effects in perceptual decisions may emerge from rational choices under cognitive resource constraints rather than adjustments to changing environments. Two new computational models have been constructed to predict behavior under two different constraints, among which the one assuming higher cost for more precise beliefs is better supported by new experimental data. The conclusion may be further strengthened by comparison with alternative models and (optionally) evidence from additional data.

Reviewed by eLife

Species and habitat specific changes in bird activity in an urban environment during Covid 19 lockdown

1. Congnan Sun
2. Yoel Hassin
3. Arjan Boonman
4. Assaf Shwartz
5. Yossi Yovel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript offers a valuable contribution to studying wildlife responses during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. It convincingly demonstrates that bird species in urban areas respond differently to human activity changes. What sets this study apart from others on avian responses to COVID-19 lockdowns is its use of passive acoustic monitoring. By concurrently measuring anthropogenic noise, a crucial reflection of changes in human activity due to COVID-19 lockdowns, this study reveals rare local-scale variations in bird responses to human activity. Only one study so far has used vocalization recordings to assess the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on a bird species.

Reviewed by eLife

Hearing loss in juvenile rats leads to excessive play fighting and hyperactivity, mild cognitive deficits and altered neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex

1. Jonas Jelinek
2. Marie Johne
3. Mesbah Alam
4. Joachim K. Krauss
5. Andrej Kral
6. Kerstin Schwabe

Reviewed by PREreview

Mesotrode allows chronic simultaneous mesoscale cortical imaging and subcortical or peripheral nerve spiking activity recording in mice

1. Dongsheng Xiao
2. Yuhao Yan
3. Timothy H Murphy

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study combines chronic widefield calcium imaging of dorsal cortex activity at the mesoscale level with electrical recording of single neurons in specific cortical and subcortical locations. This work provides compelling evidence for recording neuronal activity at multiple temporal and spatial scales by combination of optical and electrophysiological methods. This work will be of broad interest to system neuroscientists studying neural circuits.

Reviewed by eLife