Food storing, memory and the avian hippocampus

食物储存、记忆和鸟类海马体

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06618
• 负责人: Sherry, David
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=764138
• 关键词: Food; storing; memory; avian; hippocampus

Food-storing birds are important models in the study of animal behaviour and cognition. Their ability to remember the locations of large numbers of food caches has led to new discoveries about memory. Food-storing birds also have a larger hippocampus and greater recruitment of new neurons into the hippocampus than non-storing species. These specializations have made it possible to test novel ideas about memory and adult neurogenesis in animals in which memory plays a key role in their natural lives. Despite remarkable progress in research on these birds, we know surprisingly little about food-storing behaviour in nature and many questions remain about memory and the brain of food-storing birds. This proposal describes projects on 1) food storing behaviour in the wild, 2) cognitive control of memory, and 3) hippocampal neurogenesis in food-storing birds. Food storing by black-capped chickadees occurs in a social context. In fall and winter, when most storing occurs, chickadees live in flocks of up to 12 individuals. By attaching nanotag radio-transmitters to chickadees and erecting permanent radio antennas in chickadee habitat we have been able to obtain detections of many birds simultaneously and continuously for several months. In proposed research, radio-tag detection data will be combined with direct observation of caching behaviour to establish how individuals distribute and retrieve their caches within the constraints of group movement in the defended winter territory. Memory consists of multiple dissociable systems involving different brain regions. But the degree to which these processes operate independently is the subject of much debate and empirical research. Food storing and retrieval by black-capped chickadees occurs in the context of other behaviour. Because of their specialization for food caching, chickadees might be expected to have greater cognitive control of memory compared to non-caching birds. I propose to compare the cognitive control of memory in food-storing chickadees and non-storing dark-eyed juncos. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is an enduring mystery. It has been hypothesized to both provide new neurons for new memories and to accelerate forgetting.  In chickadees, hippocampal neurogenesis is elevated in fall and winter in a pattern that corresponds roughly to elevated seasonal food storing. Despite tantalizing findings from my lab and others, however, there is little systematic research on the time course of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in birds or how new neurons integrate into hippocampal circuits. I propose to establish the time course of hippocampal recruitment, patterns of activity of new neurons (determined by immediate early gene expression) and the influence of using memory on neurogenesis in food-storing birds. This research will provide new information on cognition in the wild, the organization of memory, and the function of adult hippocampal neurogenesis.

食物存储鸟是研究动物行为和认知的重要模型。他们记住大量食物库的位置的能力导致了有关记忆的新发现。与非储存物种相比，食物存储的鸟类还具有更大的海马和更大的新神经元募集到海马。这些专业使得对动物的记忆和成人神经发生的新思想成为可能，其中记忆在自然生活中起着关键作用。尽管在这些鸟类的研究方面取得了显着进展，但我们对自然界中的食物存储行为知之甚少，许多关于记忆和食物存储鸟的大脑仍然存在的问题。该提案描述了1）野外食物存储行为，2）对记忆的认知控制，以及3）食物存储鸟类的海马神经发生。黑色山雀的食物存储在社会背景下。在秋季和冬季，当大多数存储发生时，山雀都生活在多达12个人的群中。通过将纳米塔放射传播器连接到山雀上，并在山雀栖息地建立永久性无线电天线，我们已经能够简单而连续地获取许多鸟类的探测。在拟议的研究中，无线电标签检测数据将与对缓存行为的直接观察相结合，以确定个体如何在定义的冬季区域中分布和检索群体运动的约束中。记忆由多个可解散的系统组成，涉及不同的大脑区域。但是这些过程独立运作的程度是许多辩论和实证研究的主题。在其他行为的背景下，出现了黑色山雀的食物存储和取回。由于它们专门用于食品缓存，与非cach鸟相比，山雀的记忆控制能力更大。我建议比较食品存储鸡和非储物深色眼睛的juncos中记忆的认知控制。成人海马神经发生是一个持久的谜。已经假设这两者都为新记忆提供新的神经元，并加速遗忘。在Chickadees中，海马神经发生在秋季和冬季以大致相对应的季节性食物储存的模式升高。尽管我的实验室和其他人的发现诱人的发现，但对于鸟类的成年海马神经发生的时间过程几乎没有系统的研究，或者新的神经神经如何整合到海马电路中。我建议建立海马募集的时间过程，新神经元的活性模式（由早期基因表达决定）以及使用记忆对食物存储鸟类神经发生的影响。这项研究将提供有关野外认知，记忆的组织以及成人海马神经发生功能的新信息。