Automated Measurement of Mouse Freezing Behavior and its Use for Quantitative Trait Locus Analysis of Contextual Fear Conditioning in (BALB/cJ × C57BL/6J)F2 Mice

The most commonly measured mouse behavior in fear conditioning tests is freezing. A technical limitation, particularly for genetic studies, is the method of direct observation used for quantifying this response, with the potential for bias or inconsistencies. We report the use of a computerized method based on latency between photobeam interruption measures as a reliable scoring criterion in mice. The different computer measures obtained during contextual fear conditioning tests showed high correlations with hand-scored freezing; r values ranged from 0.87 to 0.94. Previously reported strain differences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J in context-dependent fear conditioning were also detected by the computer-based system. In addition, the use of computer-scored freezing of 199 (BALB/cJ×C57BL/6J)F₂ mice enabled us to detect a suggestive gender-dependent chromosomal locus for contextual fear conditioning on distal chromosome 8 by QTL analysis. Automation of freeze scoring would significantly increase efficiency and reliability of this learning and memory test.     

Analogical modification in the creation of contemporary art

The goal of this study was to propose a framework to describe the analogical process in the context of creation. We conducted retrospective interviews with two contemporary artists in their forties using portfolios of their past works so that they could recall their creation processes in detail. We found that the artists often use analogical modification to produce new series of artwork. Analogical modification is a cognitive process used to generate a new target, in the context of creation, by changing values of a source to make differences during analogical mapping. We found three types of analogical modification, namely, subject modification, structure modification, and concept modification. Creative vision, which is formed through many years of creative activity and consists of long-term intentions or goals for creation, plays an important role in guiding the use of analogical modification. The process of artistic creation can be better understood using the framework of the interaction between activities in different time spans, such as analogical modification and creative vision.     

Searching for a perceived stare in the crowd

Gaze direction can be represented in terms not only of local-feature information (ie the location of the pupil in the eye socket), but also of an emergent property---whether the perceived gaze direction is straight or averted. To examine whether this emergent property is preferentially accessed when searching for an oddly directed gaze, we experimentally manipulated the local-feature information and the emergent property independently, in order to investigate the influences of both types of information on visual searches for an oddly directed gaze. We found that the primary determinant of search efficiency was not the local-feature information of eye region, but the emergent property--the perceived direction of the gaze. This finding is consistent with the idea that important social signals are recognised primarily by their emergent properties.     

Global-feature classification can be acquired more rapidly than local-feature classification in both humans and pigeons

When humans process visual stimuli, global information often takes precedence over local information. In contrast, some recent studies have pointed to a local precedence effect in both pigeons and nonhuman primates. In the experiment reported here, we compared the speed of acquisition of two different categorizations of the same four geometric figures. One categorization was on the basis of a local feature, the other on the basis of a readily apparent global feature. For both humans and pigeons, the global-feature categorization was acquired more rapidly. This result reinforces the conclusion that local information does not always take precedence over global information in nonhuman animals.     

The logic of the stimulus

This paper examines the contribution of stimulus processing to animal logics. In the classic functionalist S-O-R view of learning (and cognition), stimuli provide the raw material to which the organism applies its cognitive processes–its logic, which may be taxon-specific. Stimuli may contribute to the logic of the organism's response, and may do so in taxon-specific ways. Firstly, any non-trivial stimulus has an internal organization that may constrain or bias the way that the organism addresses it; since stimuli can only be defined relative to the organism's perceptual apparatus, and this apparatus is taxon-specific, such constraints or biases will often be taxon-specific. Secondly, the representation of a stimulus that the perceptual system builds, and the analysis it makes of this representation, may provide a model for the synthesis and analysis done at a more cognitive level. Such a model is plausible for evolutionary reasons: perceptual analysis was probably perfected before cognitive analysis in the evolutionary history of the vertebrates. Like stimulus-driven analysis, such perceptually modelled cognition may be taxon-specific because of the taxon-specificity of the perceptual apparatus. However, it may also be the case that different taxa are able to free themselves from the stimulus logic, and therefore apply a more abstract logic, to different extents. This thesis is defended with reference to two examples of cases where animals' cognitive logic seems to be isomorphic with perceptual logic, specifically in the case of pigeons' attention to global and local information in visual stimuli, and dogs' failure to comprehend means-end relationships in string-pulling tasks.This contribution is part of the special issue “Animal Logics” (Watanabe and Huber 2006).     

Changes in electrical resistivity during isothermal annealing of thermally disordered Cu-15at.%Pd alloys

The changes in the electrical resistivity of thermally disordered Cu-15at.%Pd alloys during isothermal annealing at various temperatures has been investigated. The results obtained are compared with the changes in electrical resistivity calculated under the assumption that ordering proceeds only during isothermal annealing. The electrical resistivity in this alloy first increases and then decreases during isothermal annealing, and the magnitude of the increase decreases as the annealing temperature is lowered. A comparison between the results of measurement and calculation shows that the increase in electrical resistivity is considerably larger than that deduced at the early stage of ordering and occurs after the start of the ordering. An electron micrograph of a sample annealed at 643K for 42000s (11.7h) revealed that not only swirl-like antiphase domains but also fine domains with narrow stripes are present. Furthermore, it is shown that the electron diffraction pattern from the fine domains includes somewhat diffuse extra spots, which have never been observed in the L1 2 -type ordered structure, and that the fine domains disappear after a long anneal. These results indicate that the formation and disappearance of any quasistable phase influence the large increase and subsequent decrease in electrical resistivity during isothermal annealing.     

The Mind of the Scenario Thinker

In the face of increasing uncertainty and changes, corporations must dynamically examine their business environment and activate the knowledge creation process in a future-oriented manner without getting hung up on analyzing their past (much like driving a car using only the rear-view mirror). In the previous article, we discussed the basics of scenario planning. We should not use this tool as a mere technique. Our knowledge of the world and the environment around us is important because it underlies our scenarios. When we look toward the future in an uncertain environment, we necessarily create knowledge proactively. Scenario planning and knowledge creation are commonplace when working on knowledge of innovations that shape the future. In this article we focus on the importance of having “scenario mind,” the philosophy underlying scenario planning. With any managerial tool, you cannot create real knowledge if you use only superficial know-how, like procedures described in manuals, to seek quick results. In the following sections, we discuss how scenario planning must be recognized as a “discipline of knowledge” to be embedded as a way of thinking and behavioral pattern of each individual or organization, not as a mere tool.     

Perceptual grouping and detection of trial-unique emergent structures by pigeons

Animal Cognition - Detecting global patterns in the environment is essential to object perception and recognition. Consistent with this, pigeons have been shown to readily detect and locate...     

Large-billed crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) have retrospective but not prospective metamemory

Evidence of metamemory, the ability to monitor one’s own memory, has been obtained in some primates, but it appears to be weaker in other species. In this study, we examined whether crows flexibly modulate their behavior by monitoring the strength of memory trace in a delayed matching-to-sample task using two paradigms. First, crows performing a memory test were given an escape option to decline taking the test (prospective metamemory). Second, crows were given the escape option as a “not confident” report after completing the test (retrospective metamemory). Accurate memory performance yielded a reward with a higher probability, whereas inaccurate memory performance resulted in no such recompense. The escape option yielded a reward with a lower probability. In the prospective metamemory test, crows escaped the memory test more frequently with longer delay intervals than they did with shorter delay intervals but no more frequently in the sample-omission than the sample-present trials, indicating that the crows decided to take the test or decline it by using the delay interval as a cue. In contrast, in the retrospective metamemory test, the crows escaped the memory test more frequently when their memory-test response was incorrect than correct and more frequently in the sample-omission than the sample-present trials, indicating that the crows recognized confidence regarding their choice in the memory test and utilized the escape option to maximize reward probability. Although these results suggest that crows retrospectively monitor the strength of memory trace, their prospective metamemory ability has not yet been confirmed in the present paradigm.     

Behavioral Repertoire of Families for Coping with Individuals with Hikikomori (Prolonged Social Withdrawal) in Japan1

This study aimed to examine the characteristics of families’ behavioral repertoires in hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal) cases. We asked 243 parents of individuals with hikikomori (hikikomori group) to complete the Family Behavioral Repertoire Scale for Coping With Hikikomori (FBS-H), the Negative Evaluation of Hikikomori Scale, and a self-efficacy measure of coping with problem behaviors of hikikomori in order to develop the FBS-H and to examine its reliability and validity. Additionally, we examined the characteristics of hikikomori cases regarding the families’ behavioral repertoires using data from the hikikomori group and from 458 parents of individuals with no experience of hikikomori (control group). The results of the analysis indicated the acceptable reliability and validity of the FBS-H. The hikikomori group did not have lower FBS-H scores than the control group. This result indicates the possibility that a family's behavioral repertoire does not strongly influence the “expression” of hikikomori. Further research is needed to clarify the influence of families’ behavioral repertoires to refine family support.