Articles tagged with Animal Learning
Researchers found that experienced animals form memories using different plasticity mechanisms than naive subjects, suggesting the way our neurons form new connections depends on their prior history. Previously activated neurons were more excitable, making them capable of different kinds of plasticity.
A recent study published in Nature Communications reveals that serotonin plays a crucial role in learning by influencing an animal's decision-making strategies. When the interval between trials was short, mice relied on their working memory, while longer intervals activated their long-term memory, allowing them to learn from past rewar...
A new study finds that swamp sparrows create time-honored song traditions by faithfully copying the most popular songs, with some lasting hundreds of years. The birds' cultural conformity generates extremely stable traditions in their bird song, rivaling those of humans.
A new study uses deep learning to automate wildlife data collection, improving the ability to study and conserve wildlife. The technology can accurately identify species, count individuals, and describe behavior, saving significant volunteer time.
Researchers isolated striosome neuron activity using optical neural imaging technology to shed light on their role in reinforcement learning. The study found that striosomal neurons fire more actively in response to odor cues associated with water rewards, indicating they are involved in anticipating the outcome of a stimulus.
Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a method using deep reinforcement learning to create realistic computer animations. The system, dubbed DeepMimic, can simulate various skills, including acrobatic feats like break dancing and martial arts, and respond naturally to changes in the environment.
In a study on ring-tailed lemurs, researchers found that those who learned to solve tasks received more affiliative behaviors, such as grooming, from others. This increased their social position and became more influential within their group.
Princeton University researchers found that lemurs who solve problems gain more social connections and attention from others. By observing the behavior of successful individuals, other lemurs are more likely to adopt similar skills and strategies.
Researchers found that three-month-old infants can learn same and different relations in just six trials, with better performance when presented with fewer examples but more comparison opportunities. This finding suggests that humans' talent for relational learning is present from infancy and may even be a precursor to language learning.
Researchers found that mosquitoes associate odors with unpleasant mechanical shocks, leading them to avoid those scents. The insects' ability to process and learn from odor information relies on dopamine in the brain.
Researchers studied great tit birds and found they learned to avoid brightly colored, distasteful prey after observing another bird's reaction. This social learning process, known as 'social transmission,' helps explain how conspicuous colors evolved in insects.
A new study shows that very low levels of electrical stimulation can instruct an appropriate response or action in the brain, bypassing damaged senses. The findings have significant implications for the development of neuro-prosthetics and brain-computer interfaces.
A team of researchers, led by Luke Premo, question the widely accepted timeline of human cultural transmission, suggesting that it may be much more recent. They propose that the Oldowan tool, believed to be one of the first stone tools made by humans, could have been learned through innate skill rather than cultural transmission.
A new study shows that young bats adopt a specific 'dialect' spoken by their colonies, even when it differs from their mother tongue. Researchers used playback recordings to expose pups to different vocalizations and found they developed a dialect resembling the one they were exposed to.
Researchers found that young bats pick up specific vocalizations from their colony members, developing a unique dialect. This discovery sheds light on the evolutionary origins of language skills and raises questions about how bats adapt to new colonies.
A recent study found that infants as young as six months old exhibit a stress reaction when seeing spiders or snakes, with a significant increase in pupil size indicating activation of the brain's noradrenergic system.
Scientists have identified distinct neural signatures for explicit and implicit learning, which could guide the development of training techniques to mitigate learning and memory deficits. The findings may also help diagnose Alzheimer's disease at an earlier stage.
A study published in Current Biology confirms that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves associative learning by modulating brain connectivity between areas, not neuron firing rates. tDCS was shown to increase learning speed in macaques by up to 40% with no increased neuronal firing.
Researchers found that birds learned about object properties through exploration before using them to solve tasks. The study suggested that playful exploration enables animals to gather information about their physical world, leading to creative problem-solving.
Scientists at RIKEN Brain Science Institute discovered that emotional and flexible learning rely on noradrenaline's division of labor in the brain. Two types of learning - fear learning and extinction - require distinct populations of neurons, with different projections to the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered that brief memory reactivations can replace extensive practice and training as a basis of procedural learning. By leveraging this novel approach, individuals can improve their learning with just several brief but highly efficient reactivations of a learned memory.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a breakthrough algorithm called DeepLoco that enables computer characters to learn complex motor skills like walking and running through trial and error. The system uses deep reinforcement learning to allow characters to respond to their environment without hand-coding st...
A new study reveals that people are capable of controlling the exact timing of their blinking, a movement previously thought to be automated. This discovery challenges previous assumptions and highlights the importance of the cerebral cortex in controlling movements at will.
The Famula project has created a system that learns to recognize everyday objects through trial and error, mimicking human learning. The robot's language capabilities are also being developed to improve its interactions with humans.
Capuchin monkeys adopt most efficient technique for opening fruit quickly through social learning and individual experience. Older monkeys rely on their own experience, while younger ones pay more attention to watching others.
A study published in Nature Medicine found that immune reactions to viruses can disrupt brain connections, leading to learning problems. The research team identified CX3CR1highLY6Clow monocytes as the key players in this process, releasing inflammatory signaling protein TNFα which blocks nerve cell connection formation.
Researchers at Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience developed a photo-inducible CaMKII inhibitor to study intracellular signaling cascades. The tool revealed that CaMKII activation persists for approximately 1 minute, contradicting previous studies, and is necessary only for short periods of time for LTP and animal learning.
Researchers identify complementary roles played by mitral and tufted cells in processing olfactory information. Active learning enhances distinctiveness between similar smells through separate neural networks.
An international team of neuroscientists has discovered that neurons coordinate their activity to improve motor control, shedding light on the brain's mechanisms. The findings may lead to better brain-machine interfaces for paralyzed patients.
A team of scientists led by Anandasankar Ray have identified Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor 6 (HDAC6) as a regulator of learning in fruit flies. The enzyme acts like a 'dimmer switch' to increase or decrease signal across synapses, and its role in healthy neurons is less understood.
A recent study published in Science found that sleep deprivation impairs the brain's ability to consolidate new memories in mice. The researchers discovered that homeostatic scaling down, a process that weakens synapses, occurs during sleep and is essential for learning and memory formation.
Two studies reveal that dopaminergic neurons in the brain encode errors in singing performance, helping juvenile zebra finches learn to accurately imitate their tutor's song. Meanwhile, another study finds that songbirds adjust song cadence towards an innate template, rather than learning rhythm from other birds.
Researchers have developed an associative learning model that explains how animals create effective behaviors, such as self-control and tool use. The model suggests that genetic regulation of learning influences species-specific behavior and intelligence.
Researchers observed wild chimpanzee mothers teaching their offspring to use tools, including termite-fishing probes. By sharing tools and customizing the learning process for local conditions, these mothers help their young develop essential skill sets.
Researchers develop mathematical models to mimic bird navigation in turbulent thermals, revealing key environmental cues like vertical wind acceleration and torque. The study aims to guide the design of energy-efficient autonomous gliders.
New research reveals that newborn ducklings can learn to identify and follow abstract relational concepts, such as 'same' and 'different', without reinforcement training. This ability was previously known only in highly intelligent animals like apes and parrots.
A 15-year study reveals that Luzon Island, in the Philippines, is home to 56 non-flying mammal species, 52 of which are unique to the island. The research team discovered 28 new species, including four tree-mice with extremely long whiskers and five shrew-like mice that feed on earthworms.
A paralyzed chimpanzee, Reo, was rehabilitated through a dedicated programme using cognitive tasks on a touch screen. After 41 months of intensive physiotherapy, he learned to walk again, showing the potential of this method in improving animal welfare.
A study by Lisa Wallis and Friederike Range found that older Border Collies perform slower in tasks requiring learning, logical reasoning, and cognitive flexibility. However, the dogs' long-term memory for touchscreen stimuli remained unaffected by age.
A new study by the University of Exeter found that grey squirrels solve problems in the search for food through persistence and choosing effective behaviors. The research showed increased experience, higher persistence, and behavioral selectivity are directly related to improved problem-solving efficiency.
Researchers found joiner neurons that can be pre-positioned for rapid recruitment into memories, changing how brain networks adjust to build memories. This discovery has implications for understanding memory formation and developing new strategies for brain injury recovery.
Female black-capped chickadees produce acoustically distinct vocalizations from those of males, with birds able to tell apart the two sexes through different acoustic cues. The researchers found that females rely more on information in the second note of the song, while males focus on the first note.
The Society for Neuroscience has announced winners of its achievement awards, recognizing individuals who have promoted women's advancement in neuroscience and demonstrated excellence in mentoring and research. The award recipients include Julio Ramirez, Allison J. Doupe, Debra Bangasser, Mingshan Xue, Janice Naegele, and Paul Greengard.
A University of Washington biologist has spotted a rare nautilus species, Allonautilus scrobiculatus, for the first time in three decades. The sighting highlights the need for conservation efforts to protect this ancient lineage from illegal fishing practices and potential extinction.
Researchers studying marine snails found that aging impairs sensory and motor neurons' performance in short-term memory. This results in an inability of old animals to learn, providing insights into the underlying mechanisms of age-related memory loss.
Researchers at Australian National University trained fairy wrens to recognize unfamiliar alarm calls and flee when threatened, demonstrating birds' ability to eavesdrop on other species. This breakthrough could aid in training captive animals to detect danger signals before release.
Researchers found that songbirds rely on patterns in much the same way as people do when learning to recognize and categorize speech sounds. By training starlings to differentiate between complex auditory patterns, the study showed that birds can learn to categorize motifs into meaningful categories.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have made a breakthrough in understanding how the brain represents familiar concepts, such as houses and bananas. By teaching people new concepts and monitoring neural activity, they found that these representations occur in the same brain areas for everyone, using a shared 'filing system'.
A new algorithm allows robots to automatically adapt to injury, learning a compensatory behavior in under two minutes. The Intelligent Trial and Error algorithm enables robots to quickly discover a new way to walk or perform tasks despite damage.
Researchers have identified two brain circuits that play a crucial role in encoding positive and negative learned associations in mice. The study found that one circuit promotes reward-driven behaviors, while the other drives avoidance behavior.
Researchers used simulations of evolving computational brain models to show that more modular brains learn more and forget less. This finding could accelerate attempts to create artificial intelligence (AI) that can learn multiple skills over time, like humans and animals.
Researchers at the University of Iowa found that pigeons can categorize and name objects, similar to how children learn words. The study used a computerized task that allowed pigeons to learn 16 categories simultaneously, comparable to how humans learn categories.
In a study published in Nature, NYU researchers found that emotional learning can strengthen older memories by selectively preserving previously insignificant information. Participants were shown images of animals and tools, with some receiving shocks to make certain categories emotionally meaningful. Memory for these images was better...
A Concordia University study found that bilingual children are more likely to believe that traits arise from experience, while monolinguals tend to think they're innate. This discovery has important social implications, as it suggests early second language education could promote acceptance of human diversity.
Researchers discovered that neurons in the amygdala, responsible for processing fearful experiences, lose their ability to discriminate between safe and dangerous stimuli when an individual exhibits generalized fear. This loss of discrimination leads to a state of hyperarousal and intense anxiety.
A new study at Brown University found that reward overcomes retrieval-induced forgetting, a phenomenon where practicing certain facts suppresses recall of others. Volunteers who earned rewards during practice had improved recall of unpracticed fish category facts.
Researchers at Lund University have discovered a new learning mechanism in individual nerve cells, which enables the brain to time its reactions and control complex processes like blinking and intelligible speech. This discovery has significant implications for rehabilitation following stroke, autism, ADHD, and language problems.
Researchers used brain-computer interfaces and machine learning to study neural patterns in monkey brains as they learned to move a computer cursor. The study found that learning was easier when nerve cells rearranged existing patterns of activity, rather than generating new ones.
Researchers found that increased safety signaling is associated with improved REM sleep consolidation and better management of fear conditioning in individuals with PTSD. This suggests that addressing sleep disturbances before treating daytime symptoms may lead to more beneficial outcomes for exposure-based treatments.
Researchers discovered that the Notch signaling pathway is involved in adult fear memory formation. MicroRNAs, specifically miRNA-34a, regulate the pathway and are increased after fear learning occurs. This study provides a starting point for developing new treatments against PTSD.