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.

储存食物的鸟类是研究动物行为和认知的重要模型，它们记住大量食物储存位置的能力导致了关于记忆的新发现。储存食物的鸟类还拥有更大​​的海马体和更多的新海马体。这些特化使得在动物中测试关于记忆和成年神经发生的新想法成为可能，其中记忆在它们的自然生活中发挥着关键作用，尽管对这些鸟类的研究取得了显着进展。令人惊讶的是，人们对自然界的食物储存行为知之甚少，并且关于食物储存鸟类的记忆和大脑的许多问题仍然存在。该提案描述了以下项目：1）野外食物储存行为，2）记忆的认知控制，以及3）海马体。黑冠山雀的食物储存发生在秋季和冬季，此时，山雀最多以 12 只个体为群体进行储存。通过向山雀发射无线电发射器并在山雀栖息地安装永久性无线电天线，我们已经能够在几个月内同时连续检测到许多鸟类，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来建立。记忆由多个可分离的系统组成，在不同的大脑区域中，个人如何在群体运动的限制下分配和检索他们的缓存，但这些过程独立运作的程度是很多争论和实证的主题。黑顶山雀的食物储存和检索发生在其他行为的背景下，因为它们对食物储存的专门性，我建议与非储存鸟类相比，它们对记忆有更大的认知控制。储存食物的山雀和非储存的黑眼灯雀的记忆的认知控制是一个持久的谜团，为新的记忆提供新的神经元一直是一个有趣的问题。在山雀中，海马的神经发生在秋季和冬季会增加，其模式与季节性食物储存的增加大致相对应，尽管我的实验室和其他人的发现很诱人，但对成年海马的时间过程却很少有系统的研究。鸟类的神经发生或新神经元如何整合到海马回路中，我建议建立海马招募的时间过程、新神经元的活动模式（由早期基因表达决定）以及使用的影响。这项研究将为野生认知、记忆组织和成年海马神经发生功能提供新的信息。