Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"Theta-gamma coupling: nonlinearity as a universal cross-frequency coupling mechanism.","authors":"Alex Sheremet, Yu Qin","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1553000","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1553000","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Cross Frequency Coupling (CFC) phenomenon is defined as a statistical correlation between characteristic parameters neural oscillations. This study demonstrates and analyzes the nonlinear mechanism of the CFC, with a focus on the coupling between slow and fast oscillations, as a model for theta-gamma coupling. We first discuss the usage of the spectrum/bispectrum CFC measure using experimental data. As a physical paradigm, we propose the concept of a Class II neural population at low activity: neurons fire intermittently, and the time spent in the subthreshold regime is much larger that the duration of an action potential. We verify the emergence of fast oscillations (gamma) using a direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a population of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons forced by a slow theta oscillation. To deconstruct the mechanism, we derive a mean field approximation based on a reduction of the Hodgkin-Huxley model to a two-equation leaky-integrate-and-fire (LIF) model. Under theta forcing, mean field model generates gamma oscillations; the solutions exhibit spectrum/bispectrum CFC patterns that agree qualitatively with both the DNS model and experimental data. For the theta-gamma coupling problem, the mean field model may be linearized using an asymptotic expansion. The analytical solution of the linear system describes theta-gamma interaction as a gamma stabilization/destabilization cycle and provides explicit expressions of the gamma amplitude and frequency modulation by theta. The results demonstrate that nonlinearity as a universal/unifying mechanism of all CFC types.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1553000"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12230018/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144583509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Noninvasive brain stimulation: a promising approach to study and improve emotion regulation.","authors":"Masaru Tanaka, Zhenhong He, Shangfeng Han, Simone Battaglia","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1633936","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1633936","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1633936"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12235318/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144590806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying social distance using deep learning-based video analysis: results from the BTBR mouse model of autism.","authors":"Tausif Khan, Kostiantyn Cherkas, Nikolas A Francis","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1602205","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1602205","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by challenges in social communication, difficulties in understanding social cues, a tendency to perform repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests. BTBR T⁺ Itpr3^tf/J (BTBR) mice exhibit ASD-like behavior and are often used to study the biological basis of ASD. Social behavior in BTBR mice is typically scored manually by experimenters, which limits the precision and accuracy of behavioral quantification. Recent advancements in deep learning-based tools for machine vision, such as DeepLabCut (DLC), enable automated tracking of individual mice housed in social groups. Here, we used DLC to measure locomotion and social distance in pairs of familiar mice. We quantified social distance by finding the Euclidean distance between pairs of tracked mice. BTBR mice showed hyperlocomotion and greater social distance than CBA control mice. BTBR social distance was consistently greater than CBA control mice across the duration of a 60-min experiment. Despite exhibiting greater social distance, BTBR mice showed comparable socio-spatial arrangements of heads, bodies, and tails compared to CBA control mice. We also found that age, sex, and body size may affect social distance. Our findings demonstrate that DeepLabCut facilitates the quantification of social distance in BTBR mice, providing a complementary tool for existing behavioral assays.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1602205"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12226490/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144575185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"To chew or not to chew? Exploring the influence of scented chew toys on puppy chewing.","authors":"Rituparna Sonowal, Nathaniel J Hall, Anastasia C Stellato","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1602063","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1602063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Chewing and mouthing are natural oral behaviors in dogs, particularly during puppyhood, yet owners report these as nuisance behaviors. The provision of appropriate enrichment items, such as scented chew toys, are often recommended to reduce these undesirable behaviors. Nevertheless, the influence of providing scented chew toys on chewing and mouthing behavior in puppies has not been investigated.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We collected data on engagement levels in dogs (<i>N</i> = 29) with commercially available rubber chew toys during two 5-min sessions in an observation room, with each dog interacting with both toy types (non-scented, peanut butter-scented with squeaker) on separate days. Following the sessions, dogs were randomly assigned to be provided with either the non-scented (<i>N</i> = 15; control) and scented squeaker toy (<i>N</i> = 14) for 1 week in their household. Before and after the 1-week period, owners filled out an online questionnaire detailing how often their dog engaged in chewing and mouthing behaviors at home and they rated their agreement with various statements about their dog's chewing behavior.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>During observation sessions, puppies spent more time interacting with (<i>p</i> = 0.02) and sniffing (<i>p</i> < 0.0001) the peanut butter-scented squeaker toy in comparison to the non-scented toy. The frequency of owner's prompting the dog to engage with the toy during the observation sessions was higher for the non-scented toy than the peanut butter-scented squeaker toy (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Descriptive statistics reveal that owners in the non-scented group were more likely to agree that their dog's mouthing or nipping was problematic in the second survey (61.5%, + 16%) compared to the initial survey (45.5%), while owners in the scented group were less likely to agree (41.6%, -28.4%) compared to the initial survey (70%). Owner reports suggest no changes in the frequency of dogs chewing on undesired items and mouthing or nipping on body parts during the 1-week period for either toy type.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>The findings suggest that scent can enhance engagement with chew toys, and although chew toys did not influence owner perceptions, future research should evaluate the use of structured owner-implemented training strategies on mitigating unwanted chewing or mouthing behavior in dogs.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1602063"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12226495/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144575186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Gut-brain axis correlates, mediators, and moderators of stress resilience or vulnerability.","authors":"Annelise A Madison, Silvia Turroni, Audrey F Duff, Jeff D Galley, Amy R Mackos, Avinash Veerappa","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1629472","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1629472","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1629472"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12209264/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144539715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Brain reward and aversion circuits: progress review on current and future breakthroughs.","authors":"Dan P Covey, Keith B J Franklin","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1632916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1632916","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1632916"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12209224/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144539714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ants engaged in cooperative food transport show anticipatory and nest-oriented clearing of the obstacles surrounding the food: goal-directed behavior emerging from collective cognition.","authors":"Ehud Fonio, Danielle Mersch, Ofer Feinerman","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1533372","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1533372","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>One of the hallmarks of higher cognition is the ability to anticipate near-future events and effectively react to them. This requires perceiving events in a dynamic environment and adjusting the actions accordingly to suit the expected outcomes. Social insects exhibit various forms of emergent collective cognition; however, it is not clear whether such preplanning is one of them. We discovered that when longhorn crazy ants cooperatively carry a large food item to the nest, some ants clear the path ahead of the moving load from small debris. The obstacle clearing is nest-oriented, as it creates a clear path connecting the food load with the nest. We show that this anticipatory obstacle-clearing behavior is context specific and that it is functional in reducing the time needed to deliver the large food load to the nest. Importantly, we found that no personal knowledge of the food load is required for the ants to start clearing the obstacles. Individual ant tracking revealed that clearing is instead triggered by social cues in the form of freshly laid pheromone markings. Indeed, we observed that obstacle clearing was performed by ants that had never experienced the big food load and even in cases where no such load was present at all, in response to the pheromone marks alone. These results provide strong evidence that individual ants do not possess an internal representation of the final goal of obstacle clearing. On the other hand, the goal-directedness of obtacle clearing appears to emerge at the ant group level from collective cognition.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1533372"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12202405/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144527084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impaired instance acquisition as a cause of the comorbidity of learning disorders in young adults.","authors":"Chiara Valeria Marinelli, Giuliana Nardacchione, Marialuisa Martelli, Vincenza Tommasi, Marco Turi, Paola Angelelli, Pierpaolo Limone, Pierluigi Zoccolotti","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1560362","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1560362","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The \"<i>instance theory of automatization</i>\" suggests that automaticity relies on acquiring specific instances that enhance performance, preventing the slower application of procedures. It has been proposed that a low ability in instance acquisition may be the key cause of the comorbidity among learning disorders. We investigated performance on a learning task to test the hypothesis that difficulties in acquiring and consolidating instances would be linked with comorbid learning disorders.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We examined the individual rate of learning of 143 young adults with typical development (32M, 111F, mean age: 20.3) and 59 with specific learning disorders (SLD; 12M and 47F, mean age: 20.9).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both groups significantly reduced their response times across learning trials (following a power trend) without generalization to untrained items, indicating that learning occurred through instance acquisition. Initially, participants with SLD performed worse than the controls. However, they reduced their times by about 96 sec with practice, even though their \"endpoint\" (asymptote) remained slower than controls. Group differences were related to these two scaling values, not the power curve coefficient. Subsequently, we reclassified the sample into three groups based on the type of deficit: one without procedural/instance deficits (\"Control\" group), one with selective deficits in \"procedural\" tasks (\"Poor procedural\" group), and one with deficits in instance-based tasks (\"Poor instance\" group). The poor instance group not only showed deficits across all tasks requiring instance retrieval (i.e., arithmetical facts and lexical representation retrieval) but was also slower (86 s) in the learning task compared to the other groups (58 and 70 s, respectively; at least <i>p</i> < 0.01). The \"Poor procedural\" group behaved similarly to the \"Control\" group.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Results support with the notion that a low ability to acquire and consolidate instances may contribute to the comorbidity of learning disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1560362"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12186060/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144483757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sex-dependent effects of food-restriction on cocaine self-administration and cocaine-seeking in rats.","authors":"Alixandria T Mascarin, Ava M Mac, Srinivasu Kallakuri, Mark K Greenwald, Shane A Perrine","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1603564","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1603564","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Misuse of drugs and natural rewards, such as food, share common neural pathways and comparably influence behavioral consequences. Food-restriction enhances drug-taking and drug-seeking behaviors in animals, but the effect of food-restriction on cocaine self-administration and cocaine-seeking in both sexes has not been well characterized.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Therefore, the present study investigated differences between food-restricted vs. <i>ad libitum-</i>feeding male and female Wistar rats on the acquisition of cocaine self-administration and cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Food access sex-dependently altered the acquisition of cocaine self-administration such that food-restricted females, but not males, displayed an escalated intake behavior over time. Only food-restricted females differed significantly between active and inactive lever pressing during the reinstatement of cocaine-seeking session.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Taken together, these results suggest that food-restriction sex-dependently improves learning of cocaine self-administration that persists to alter cocaine-seeking behavior following abstinence.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1603564"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12185388/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144483758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vagus nerve stimulation ameliorates cognitive impairment caused by hypoxia.","authors":"Birendra Sharma, Krysten A Jones, Laura K Olsen, Raquel J Moore, Frances S Curtner, Candice N Hatcher-Solis","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1555229","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1555229","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Hypoxia significantly impairs cognitive function due to the brain's high demand for oxygen. While emerging evidence suggests that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) can enhance cognition, its effectiveness in mitigating behavioral and molecular impairments caused by hypoxia remains unknown. This study investigated whether VNS could alleviate hypoxia-induced deficits in cognitive performance and neurotrophin expression in rats.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups: sham, hypoxia, and VNS + hypoxia. VNS was delivered during hypoxia (8% oxygen) exposure using 100 μs biphasic pulses at 30 Hz and 0.8 mA. Cognition and performance were assessed by behavioral testing and hippocampal tissue was collected for molecular analysis. NGF and BDNF mRNA levels were measured by quantitative PCR, and protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The passive avoidance test (PAT) performance was significantly reduced by hypoxia exposure compared to the sham group, and administration of VNS during hypoxia ameliorated this impairment. Hypoxia significantly reduced NGF and BDNF mRNA levels in the hippocampus 24 h post-exposure. VNS restored NGF mRNA to sham levels and partially increased BDNF mRNA. Immunohistochemistry results showed VNS significantly restored NGF protein expression in the hippocampus, while BDNF levels remained unchanged.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings suggest that VNS may serve as a promising intervention for cognitive impairments induced by hypoxia.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1555229"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12179086/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144368747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}