Animal Behavior and Cognition

Scale-sensitive Mouse Facial Expression Pipeline using a Surrogate Calibration Task

1. Andre Telfer
2. Oliver van Kaick
3. Alfonso Abizaid

Reviewed by PREreview

Specific Sensitivity to Rare and Extreme Events: Quasi-Complete Black Swan Avoidance vs Partial Jackpot Seeking in Rat Decision-Making

1. Mickaël Degoulet
2. Louis-Matis Willem
3. Christelle Baunez
4. Stéphane Luchini
5. Patrick A Pintus

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study represents an important contribution to the study of decision-making under risk, bringing an interdisciplinary approach spanning economic theory, behavioral neuroscience, and computational modeling to test how choice preference is influenced by rare and extreme events. The authors present evidence that rats are indeed sensitive to these rare and extreme events despite their infrequent occurrence, driven primarily by an almost complete avoidance of "Black Swans" - rare and extreme losses. The evidence for specific sensitivity to rare and extreme events however remains incomplete, owing in part to the difficulty of isolating the effect of these events beyond that arising from risk preferences more generally in both task design and in the computational modeling of the choice behavior. Given the approach here brings a relatively novel perspective, with a more detailed treatment of these confounds this paper will be of broad interest to those seeking to understand animal behavior through the lens of economic choice.

Reviewed by eLife

Fine-scale tracking reveals visual field use for predator detection and escape in collective foraging of pigeon flocks

1. Mathilde Delacoux
2. Fumihiro Kano

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this fundamental study, the authors use innovative fine-scale motion capture technologies to study visual vigilance with high-acuity vision, to estimate the visual fixation of free-feeding pigeons. The authors present compelling evidence for use of the fovea to inspect predator cues, the behavioral state influencing the latency for fovea use, and the use of the fovea decreasing the latency to escape of both the focal individual and other flock members. The work will be of broad interest to behavioral ecologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Landing force reveals new form of motion-induced sound camouflage in a wild predator

1. Kim Schalcher
2. Estelle Milliet
3. Robin Séchaud
4. Roman Bühler
5. Bettina Almasi
6. Simon Potier
7. Paolo Becciu
8. Alexandre Roulin
9. Emily LC Shepard

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental work substantially advances our understanding of animals' foraging behaviour by monitoring the movement and body posture of barn owls in high resolution and assessing their foraging success. With a large dataset, the evidence supporting the main conclusions is compelling. This work provides new corroboration for motion-induced sound camouflage and has broad implications for understanding predator-prey interactions.

Reviewed by eLife

Prediction error determines how memories are organized in the brain

1. Nicholas GW Kennedy
2. Jessica C Lee
3. Simon Killcross
4. R Fred Westbrook
5. Nathan M Holmes

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is a fundamental study examining the role of prediction error in state allocation of memories. The data provided are convincing and largely support the conclusion that a gradual change between acquisition and extinction maintains the memory state of acquisition and thus results in extinction that is resistant to restoration. This paper is of interest to behavioural and neuroscience researchers studying learning, memory, and the neural mechanisms of those processes as well as to clinicians using extinction-based therapies in treating anxiety-based disorders

Reviewed by eLife

Presynaptic Rac1 in the hippocampus selectively regulates working memory

1. Jaebin Kim
2. Edwin Bustamante
3. Peter Sotonyi
4. Nicholas Maxwell
5. Pooja Parameswaran
6. Julie K Kent
7. William C Wetsel
8. Erik J Soderblom
9. Bence Rácz
10. Scott H Soderling

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The paper characterized a specific defect in the spatial working memory of mice with a deficit in a protein called Rac1. Rac1 inhibition was limited to the presynaptic compartment of neurons, which is significant because past work has inhibited both pre- and postsynaptic compartments. The study also identified potential effectors of Rac1. The work is important for these reasons, and the strength of the evidence is exceptional.

Reviewed by eLife

Mechanism of barotaxis in marine zooplankton

1. Luis Alberto Bezares Calderón
2. Réza Shahidi
3. Gáspár Jékely

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study addresses the question of how certain zooplankton achieve barotaxis, directed locomotion in response to changes in hydraulic pressure. The authors provide compelling evidence that the response involves ciliary photoreceptors interacting with motoneurons. This work should be of broad interest to scientists working on mechanosensation, cilia, locomotion, and photoreceptors.

Reviewed by eLife

Stochastic characterization of navigation strategies in an automated variant of the Barnes maze

1. Ju-Young Lee
2. Dahee Jung
3. Sebastien Royer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents a valuable new behavioral apparatus aimed at differentiating the strategies animals use to orient themselves in an environment. The evidence supporting the claims is solid, with statistical modeling of animal behavior. Overall, this study will attract the interest of researchers exploring spatial learning and memory.

Reviewed by eLife

The evolution of olfactory sensitivity, preferences, and behavioral responses in Mexican cavefish is influenced by fish personality

1. Maryline Blin
2. Louis Valay
3. Manon Kuratko
4. Marie Pavie
5. Sylvie Rétaux

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this important paper, Blin and colleagues develop a high-throughput behavioral assay to test spontaneous swimming and olfactory preference in individual Mexican cavefish larvae. The authors present compelling evidence that the surface and cave morphs of the fish show different olfactory preferences and odor sensitivities and that individual fish show substantial variability in their spontaneous activity that is relevant for olfactory behaviour. The paper will be of interest to neurobiologists working on the evolution of behaviour, olfaction, and the individuality of behaviour.

Reviewed by eLife

DIETS: a simple and sensitive assay to measure and control the intake of complex solid foods, like high-fat diets, in Drosophila

1. Manikrao R. Thakare
2. Prerana Choudhary
3. Bhavna Pydah
4. Suhas Sunke
5. R Sai Prathap Yadav
6. Pavan Agrawal
7. Gaurav Das

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment:

  This work describes an easily implemented method for measuring solid food intake in Drosophila, which is necessary for studying the consumption of experimentally challenging diets, such as high-fat foods, as well as their nutritional impacts on the organism. It is a valuable technical contribution with solid evidence supporting the conclusions, filling a significant gap in the field.

Reviewed by eLife