Notre étude s’est intéressée chez l’enfant au modèle tempéramental de Rothbart : ce modèle suggère que la mise en balance des caractéristiques individuelles de réactivité et d’autorégulation explique le développement de l’enfant. Nous avons constaté l’intérêt de cette structure théorique pour enrichir la modélisation empirique des traits d’appétit de l’enfant, en lien avec le développement de son adiposité. Ainsi avons-nous défini les objectifs suivants: (a) valider un modèle de mesure des traits d’appétit de l’enfant inspiré des composantes tempéramentales du modèle de Rothbart; (b) valider une structure de relations entre autorégulation générale, traits d’appétit et adiposité; (c) valider la structure théorique du modèle de Rothbart appliquée au comportement alimentaire. Nous avons mesuré les traits d’appétit par questionnaire chez des enfants de 10 à 14 ans, puis via des tâches comportementales chez des enfants de 8 à 12 ans. Nous avons aussi pesé et mesuré les enfants. La méthode par questionnaire a permis de valider la modélisation tempéramentale des traits d’appétit via la réactivité de l’appétit et l’autorégulation de la prise alimentaire. Cette méthode a aussi montré que le lien entre autorégulation générale et adiposité de l’enfant pouvait s’expliquer par l’intermédiaire des traits d’appétit. Enfin, les deux méthodes ont confirmé certaines prédictions du modèle théorique de Rothbart : nous avons observé un impact positif d’une composante de réactivité de l’appétit sur l’adiposité et un effet négatif de l’autorégulation de la prise alimentaire sur la réactivité de l’appétit. Grâce à un modèle novateur de tempérament alimentaire mis en lien avec l’adiposité de l’enfant, notre étude peut impacter la prévention et le traitement du surpoids. / Our study focused on Rothbart’s temperament model in children: this model suggests that the balance between individual characteristics of reactivity and self-regulation underlies the child’s development. We noticed that empirical models of appetitive traits linked with adiposity development in children could potentially benefit from the theoretical structure of this model. We thus defined the following objectives: (a) validating a measurement model for children’s appetitive traits through temperamental components inspired by Rothbart’s model; (b) validating a structure of relationships between general self-regulation, appetitive traits and adiposity; (c) validating the theoretical structure of Rothbart’s model in the specific domain of food behaviour. We measured appetitive traits firstly through a questionnaire in 10 to 14 year-old children and secondly through behavioural tasks in 8 to 12 year-old children. Children’s height and weight were also measured. The questionnaire method allowed to validate a temperamental model of appetitive traits, measured through appetite reactivity and self-regulation in eating. We also showed with this method that the link between general self-regulation and adiposity in children could be explained through appetitive traits. Finally, both methods confirmed some of the predictions of Rothbart’s theoretical model: we observed a positive impact of one component of appetite reactivity over adiposity and a negative effect of self-regulation in eating on appetite reactivity. Thanks to an innovative eating temperament model linked with children’s adiposity, our study can impact overweight prevention and treatment.

Für alle Tiere ist die Nahrungsaufnahme ein überlebenswichtiger Vorgang. Das konsumatorische Verhalten ist Teilaspekt eines homöostatischen Prozesses. Ausgelöst wird konsumatorisches und appetitives Verhalten durch interne, motivationale Zustände. Die internen Zustände „gesättigt“ und „ungesättigt“ werden bei vielen Tierarten durch ein Wechselspiel zwischen orexigen- und anorexigen-wirkenden Neuropeptiden vermittelt. Um die zentralnervöse Steuerung von Appetit und Sättigung genauer zu klären, wurde in dieser Studie die schwarzbäuchige Taufliege Drosophila melanogaster als Modellorganismus genutzt. Dabei konnte gezeigt werden, dass durch eine artifizielle, thermogenetisch induzierte Aktivierung von Neuronen, welche das Neuropeptid SIFamid exprimieren, das Verhalten der Insekten verändert wird. Die Tiere zeigen vermehrte Nahrungsaufnahme und sind motivierter, auf appetitive gustatorische und olfaktorische Reize zu reagieren. Des Weiteren wurden Hinweise gesammelt, dass das Neuropeptid SIFamid keinen inhibitorischen Einfluss auf das Balzverhalten der Taufliegen ausübt. Mit immunhistochemischen Färbungen konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Dendriten der SIFamidergen Neurone in unmittelbarer Nähe zu den Axonendigungen von Neuronen, die orexigen- oder anorexigen-wirkende Neuropeptide produzieren, liegen. Dieser Befund lässt auf ein mögliches Zusammenspiel zwischen den diversen peptidergen Neuronen schließen. Mit Hilfe der split-GFP-Technik konnte das peptiderge Netzwerk der SIFamidergen Neurone detaillierter untersucht werden. Es wurde gefunden, dass die SIFamidergen Neurone in enger räumlicher Nachbarschaft zu Neuronen, die in die Nahrungsaufnahme sowie die nervöse Steuerung des Metabolismus involviert sind, stehen. In Kombination mit einem zweiten, unabhängigen Expressionssystem konnten die SIFamidergen Neurone thermogenetisch depolarisiert werden und die neuronale Antwort der olfaktorischen Rezeptorneurone auf Duftstimuli in den Antennalloben mit Hilfe von in-vivo Calcium Imaging untersucht werden. Es konnte dadurch gezeigt werden, dass die neuronale Aktivität in den Duftsinneszellen erhöht ist. Aufgrund vorliegender Daten aus Anatomie, Verhaltensexperimenten und in-vivo Calcium Imaging lässt sich schlussfolgern, dass SIFamid ein bis dato unbekannter „Mitspieler“ bei der Steuerung der Nahrungsaufnahme ist und modulierend auf sensorische neuronale Schaltkreise sowie insgesamt appetitfördernd auf die Taufliege wirkt.

En permettant aux animaux de faire face à des environnements variables, l'apprentissage et la mémoire contribuent à l'optimisation de leur fitness, en leur permettant d'extraire et d'utiliser des informations, de façon à réduire l'incertitude associée à des environnements imprévisibles. Parmi les insectes, la drosophile et l'abeille domestique sont considérés comme des modèles classiques pour l'étude de l'apprentissage et de la mémoire. Les travaux réalisés sur ces derniers ont apporté une quantité considérable d'informations concernant les bases génétiques, neurobiologiques et moléculaires de ces processus, et ont permis de rendre compte du niveau de complexité des capacités cognitives des insectes. Cette somme de connaissances fondamentales acquises chez ces insectes contraste étonnamment avec le faible niveau de connaissance concernant la cognition des espèces impliquées dans des problématiques qui touchent la santé humaine et animale. Pourtant, il est largement admis que l'étude détaillée des capacités cognitives des insectes vecteurs de maladies constitue un aspect prioritaire pour la compréhension de leurs adaptations à la vie hématophage, de leur importance vectorielle, ainsi que pour le développement de nouveaux outils pour leur contrôle. Les travaux réalisés à ce jour chez les vecteurs, principalement chez les moustiques, ont été menés dans des contextes naturels ou peu contrôlés et ne proposent donc pas de démonstration formelle d'apprentissage. Le principal objectif de ce travail de thèse est de proposer un cadre expérimental contrôlé permettant de mettre en évidence et caractériser les capacités d'apprentissage chez la punaise hématophage \textit{Rhodnius prolixus}. \`A la différence des moustiques, les caractéristiques biologiques de cette punaise hématophage, responsable de la transmission de la Maladie de Chagas en Amérique Latine, permettent l'adaptation de protocoles expérimentaux largement validés chez les drosophiles et l'abeille domestique. Nos résultats montrent dans un premier temps que ces insectes sont capables d'apprendre et d'associer la présentation d'une même odeur dite neutre (l'acide lactique), c'est-à-dire qui ne provoque ni attraction ni répulsion lorsqu'elle est présentée seule, avec soit la possibilité d'obtenir une récompense (un repas sanguin, conditionnement appétitif), soit avec la possibilité de recevoir une punition (un choc mécanique, conditionnement aversif). Nous avons également montré que l'apprentissage et la mémoire sont également impliqués dans le choix des hôtes. Les insectes ont en effet associé la présentation d'un choc mécanique avec le complexe d'odeur d'hôtes naturels, biaisant leur préférence lors d'un test de choix réalisé après l'entraînement. Dans un second temps, nous avons adapté à notre modèle d'étude le paradigme de conditionnement de la réponse d'extension du proboscis, développé chez les modèles classiques, ce qui a permis la caractérisation des capacités d'apprentissage, de la durée de rétention à la régulation par des horloges circadiennes. Ces travaux proposent également un paradigme expérimental, reproductible et efficace permettant d'analyser les mécanismes fins qui sous-tendent les processus d'apprentissage et de mémorisation. Dans son ensemble, cette étude apporte la première preuve expérimentale de la capacité d'apprentissage d'insectes vecteurs de la maladie de Chagas et propose des outils expérimentaux et méthodologiques permettant d'améliorer la compréhension des processus associés chez les insectes hématophages en général. Les résultats sont également discutés dans le contexte de la sélection d'hôte et de la transmission des parasites. / Learning and memory contribute to animals' fitness by allowing them adapting to variable environments. Thses two processes make them able to extract and use information from their environment in order to reduce the uncertainty associated with unpredictible environments. Among insects, fruit flies and honeybees are considered as classical models for the study of learning and memory. The amount of work that has been done on these models provide a considerable amount of information regarding the genetic, neurobiological and molecular basis of these processes and revealed the complexity of insects' cognitive abilities. All this knowledge acquired in model species, contrasts surprisingly with the lack of knowledge available regarding insect species that are involved in animal and human diseases transmission. Yet, it has been aknowledge that the detailed study of vectors cognitive abilities would allow the understanding of their adaptation to haematophagy, of their vectorial importance and provide new tools for diseases control. Up to date, studies focusing on disaese vectors, mainly in mosquitoes, were conducted in natural or not completely controled contexts and thus no clear demonstration of learning and memory is availaible.The main goal of this work was to provide a controled experimental context allowing the strudy of learning abilities in the haematophagous bug \textit{Rhodnius prolixus}. Our results show that these insectes are able to learn to associate the delivery of a same neutral odour either with the possibility to obtain a reward (blood-meal, appetitive conditioning) or with the possibility to receive a punishment (mechanical shock, aversive conditioning). We also showed that learning ans memory are involved in host selection processes. In a second part, we adapted to our biological model the paradigm of proboscis extension response conditioning, which allowed us to analyse and characterize its learning abilities. The maximal retention duration as well as the modulation of learning abilities by circadian clocks were evinced. Taken as a whole, this work provides the first experimental demonstration of learning abilities in Chagas disease vectors and provides experimental and methodological tools; These latters should allow improving the understanding of the mechanisms that are underlying cearning abilities of haematophagous insects in general. Results are also discussed in the context of host selection and parasite transmission.

Les ganglions de la base, auxquels appartiennent le striatum et le globus pallidus, sont un ensemble de structures sous-corticales impliquées dans des fonctions motrices, cognitives et motivationnelles. Il a également été montré qu’ils font partie du système de récompense, système assurant la motivation d’un organisme à initier des comportements d’approche, de façon à obtenir une récompense, puis à renforcer les activités ayant produit ces comportements pour pouvoir les reproduire par la suite, ce qui constitue la base de l’apprentissage instrumental. Or, dans certaines situations, le comportement à initier va dépendre d’une motivation à fuir ou à éviter un événement ou une situation aversive. Longtemps, on a pensé que le système du traitement des informations aversives était distinct de celui de la récompense, en termes de réseau et de régions cérébrales. Pourtant, de plus en plus d’études montrent à présent que les ganglions de la base ont certainement un rôle à jouer, non négligeable, dans le traitement des situations aversives. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous avons réalisé chez le primate non-humain des enregistrements d’activité neuronale et des perturbations pharmacologiques locales dans deux régions du système de récompense, le striatum antérieur et le pallidum ventral, au cours d’une tâche comportementale nécessitant tour à tour l’initiation de comportements d’approche vers une récompense et de comportements d’évitement d’un événement aversif. Nous avons montré l’existence d’un codage de l’information aversive dans ces régions tant pour un stimulus prédicteur d’un événement aversif, la préparation ou l’initiation d’un comportement d’évitement de cet événement, que pour l’anticipation et la réception de cet événement. Par ailleurs, les expériences de perturbations locales ont démontré qu’une atteinte du fonctionnement normal du striatum antérieur et du pallidum ventral affectait les comportements initiés normalement en contexte aversif. L’ensemble de ces résultats indique clairement que ces deux structures cérébrales, si elles sont impliquées dans la motivation à initier des comportements dirigés vers un but récompensant et l’apprentissage appétitif, le sont aussi dans la motivation aversive / Striatum and globus pallidus belong to the basal ganglia, which are a group of subcortical structures involved in motor, cognitive and motivational functions. They are also involved in the reward system which enables one’s motivation to initiate approach behaviors in order to get a reward and then consolidate activities that have produced these behaviors. This represents instrumental learning basis. However, in some situations, the behavior to be initiated depends on a motivation to escape or avoid an aversive situation. For a long time, it was thought that aversive information processing system and reward system depended on different networks and cerebral regions. Yet, a growing number of studies tend to show that basal ganglia certainly play an important role in aversive information processing. In this thesis, we recorded neuronal activity and performed local pharmacological perturbations in non-human primates, in two structures of the reward system, anterior striatum and ventral pallidum, while performing a behavioral task requiring them to initiate alternatively approach behaviors toward a reward and avoidance behaviors from an aversive event. We showed aversive information coding for the predictive stimulus, preparation and initiation of the avoidance behavior and anticipation and response to the aversive events. Furthermore, local perturbation experiments demonstrated that a functional impairment of the anterior striatum and the ventral pallidum affects the behaviors usually initiated by the animals in aversive context. Put together, these results clearly show that these two cerebral structures are involved in both appetitive and aversive motivations

Dans un monde dynamique la survie des animaux dépend de leur capacité à intégrer des signaux environnementaux afin d'adapter leur comportement à la survenue de conséquences positives (nourriture) ou négatives (dangers) c'est-à-dire de leurs capacités d’apprentissages associatifs appétitif et aversif. Pendant ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux bases comportementales, moléculaires et génétiques de l'apprentissage aversif et aux relations existant entre apprentissages aversif et appétitif au sein d'un groupe social. L'abeille est un insecte eusocial qui constitue un modèle de choix pour cette étude grâce à l'existence des protocoles de conditionnement appétitif de la réponse d'extension du proboscis (REP) et de conditionnement aversif de la réponse d'extension du dard (RED). Jusqu'à présent, le renforcement utilisé dans le conditionnement aversif de la RED était un choc électrique. Ce stimulus traversant la majeure partie du corps de l'abeille, il est peu aisé d'étudier les structures responsables de sa détection. Dans un premier chapitre, nous avons donc testé l’effet d’une forte température (65°C) sur la RED. Nous montrons qu’une stimulation thermique au niveau des pièces buccales, des pattes ou des antennes induit une RED. De plus, les abeilles parviennent à associer une odeur à la présentation concomitante d'une forte température. Dans un deuxième chapitre, nous avons cartographié la sensibilité thermique du corps des abeilles en mesurant la RED. Ce travail a montré que la stimulation de presque toutes les parties du corps induit une RED. De plus, ces stimulations peuvent jouer le rôle de renforcement aversif lors d’un conditionnement olfactif de la RED. Nous nous sommes ensuite intéressés aux récepteurs périphériques potentiellement impliqués dans la détection des fortes températures, et en particulier à HsTRPA (Hymenoptera specific Transient Receptor Potential A). Nous montrons que l’injection d'inhibiteurs exogènes de HsTRPA réduit les RED à la température. Ces résultats suggèrent l’implication possible d’HsTRPA dans la détection de la température chez l’abeille. Dans un troisième chapitre, nous nous sommes intéressés aux relations existant entre les capacités d’apprentissages aversif et appétitif des abeilles. En nous appuyant sur le protocole aversif thermique, combiné au protocole de conditionnement de la REP existant, nous avons étudié la distribution des capacités hédoniques appétitive et aversive au sein d'une ruche. La reine étant fécondée par 15-20 mâles, la ruche est segmentée génétiquement en autant de lignées paternelles différentes. Nos données montrent que la sensibilité des individus aux renforcements aversif (chaleur) et appétitif (sucre) détermine leurs performances d'apprentissage au sein de chaque modalité hédonique. Nous montrons de plus l’existence d’un trade-off, sous déterminisme génotypique, entre les capacités cognitives appétitive et aversive au sein de la colonie. Le quatrième chapitre a étudié la plasticité comportementale induite par les deux types de conditionnement. La REP et la RED étant des réponses de type "tout ou rien", nous nous sommes demandé si les mouvements antennaires des abeilles pouvaient procurer une mesure fine et intégrer des apprentissages appétitif et aversif. Nous avons développé un système de capture vidéo enregistrant les mouvements antennaires à haute vitesse. Nous montrons que les abeilles modifient leur réponse antennaire à une odeur après un apprentissage appétitif mais pas après un apprentissage aversif. Durant ce travail de thèse, nous avons ainsi développé deux nouveaux protocoles comportementaux en contention, et avons procuré de nouvelles données sur l’apprentissage aversif chez l’abeille. Nous avons observé un trade-off au sein de la ruche entre les capacités hédoniques appétitive et aversive, sous déterminisme génétique. De telles spécialisations cognitives pourraient jouer un rôle prépondérant dans l'évolution des groupes sociaux. / In a dynamic world, animals constantly face environmental changes that may affect them (Alock, 1997). Their survival depends on their ability to integrate this information in order to adapt their behaviors to subsequent positive or negative outcomes, in other words to their appetitive and aversive learning abilities. This thesis investigates the behavioral, molecular and genetic basis of aversive learning and its putative relationship with appetitive learning in a social group. The honeybee is a social insect which constitutes a profitable model for this study thanks to appetitive conditioning of the proboscis extension response (PER) and aversive conditioning of the sting extension response (SER) protocols that have been developed. To date, aversive conditioning of the SER has involved the use of electric shocks as a negative reinforcement. However, this stimulus is ecologically irrelevant for honeybees and electric currents pass through almost every part of the bee’s body making it difficult to study the dedicated structures and sensory pathways responsible for its detection. In the first chapter, we assessed the impact of high temperatures on SER, a stimulus that is also highly aversive. We showed that a SER may be triggered by heat stimulation of mouthparts, forelegs and antennae. In addition, we demonstrated that honeybees are able to associate an odor with high temperatures, resulting in the odor alone triggering the SER after conditioning. In the second chapter, we mapped the heat sensitivity of the bee’s body recording SER subsequent to heat stimulation. This work revealed that heat stimulation of almost every body structures (beside the wings and the tip of the abdomen) induces a SER. Furthermore, these stimulations may act as aversive reinforcement during an olfactory conditioning of the SER. We then focused on putative peripheral receptors involved in high temperature detection, specifically focusing on HsTRPA (Hymenoptra specific Transient Receptor Potential). Using a neuropharmalogical approach, we showed that HsTRPA exogenous inhibitor injections decrease SER triggered by high temperatures yet have no impact on sucrose PER. These results suggest a putative involvement of HsTRPA in the detection of high temperatures in honeybees. In the third chapter, we investigated the relationship between appetitive and aversive learning. By combining thermal aversive conditioning with the PER conditioning protocol, we studied the distribution of hedonic learning abilities in the hive. Since the queen mates with 15-20 males, the hive is, thus, genetically segmented in as many different patrilines. Our data shows that individual sensitivity to aversive (heat) and appetitive reinforcement varies among workers and determines their learning success in each hedonic modality. In addition, we observed that the better an individual (and therefore a patriline) is at appetitive learning, the less successful it will be in aversive learning, and vice versa. The forth chapter focused on the behavioral plasticity induced by the two types of conditioning. PER and SER are binary responses in an “all or nothing” fashion and subtle behavioral variations are difficult to observe. We therefore investigated if honeybee antennal movements may yield a finer measurement to integrate appetitive and aversive learning. We developed a motion capture system that records antennal movements at high speed. We showed that honeybees modify their antennal response to an odor previously associated with sucrose reward however thermal aversive conditioning did not induce any antennal movement modifications. During this PhD work, we developed two new behavioral assays in harnessed individuals, furthering our understanding on aversive learning in the honeybee. Within the hive, we observed a trade-off between appetitive and aversive hedonic learning, which was genetically influenced. Such cognitive specialization could play a key role in social evolution.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Henrique Santos da Silva.pdf: 832548 bytes, checksum: 03094bcd7f2ef9a4031d5d74a5282e2b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Based on Seligman & Maier´s (1967) experiment related to learned helplessness indicating that exposition to response independent shocks may produce learning disabilities of an operant response, several authors have concerned to produce same effects in appetitive context and they have presented results indicating interference on operant acquisition (Engberg et al., 1972; Welker, 1976; Oakes et al., 1982 & Job, 1988) or results which do not support interference on operant acquisition (Schwartz et al., 1974; Wheatley et al., 1977 & Beatty & Maki, 1979). The suggestion of the present experiment is that response cost required from operant may be a relevant variable to produce interference on responding after a non contingent appetitive stimuli exposition. Eighteen male Wistar rats were allocated in six different conditions: Contingent CRF (CCRF), Contingent FR (CFR), Non Contingent CRF (NCCRF), Non Contingent FR (NCFR), Control CRF (CTCRF) and Control FR (CTFR). In first phase, subjects in Contingent conditions could produce reinforcers (water) through nose poke response while subjects in Non Contingent conditions were yoked with Contingent subjects and appetitive stimuli were delivered independently of responding and subjects in Control conditions were not exposed. In second phase, all rats in CRF conditions could produce reinforcers through barpressing response reinforced on a continuous reinforcement and rats in FR conditions through the same response reinforced on FR 3. Data suggest subjects exposed to non contingent appetitive stimuli that required more time to task completion in Phase 2 (100 reinforcer acquisitions) indicated more marked interference when FR 3 was utilized instead CRF. Furthermore, interference was identified on Phase 2 in subjects who showed accidentally reinforced variability in Phase 1 unlike subjects who presented stereotypy on responding. Results are discussed based on temporal contiguity among non contingent events, interference / response competition, and aversive / appetitive context differences / A partir do estudo de Seligman e Maier (1967) em relação ao desamparo aprendido , que indicou que a exposição a choques independentes do responder podem produzir dificuldades de aprendizagem de uma resposta operante, autores têm se preocupado em produzir os mesmos efeitos no contexto apetitivo e têm mostrado resultados que apontam interferência no responder na aquisição de resposta operante (Engberg et al., 1972; Welker, 1976; Oakes et al., 1982 & Job, 1988) ou resultados que contradizem o efeito (Schwartz et al., 1974; Wheatley et al., 1977 & Beatty & Maki, 1979). A sugestão do presente experimento é que o custo da resposta exigido da resposta operante pode ser uma variável relevante para a produção de interferência no responder após exposição a estímulos apetitivos não contingentes. Dezoito ratos Wistar machos foram alocados em seis diferentes condições: Contingente CRF (CCRF), Contingente FR (CFR), Não Contingente CRF (NCCRF), Não Contingente FR (NCFR), Controle CRF (CTCRF) e Controle FR (CTFR). Na primeira fase, os sujeitos de condições contingentes poderiam produzir água por meio da resposta de focinhar, os sujeitos de condições não contingentes estavam acoplados aos contingentes e recebiam os estímulos independentes do responder e os sujeitos das condições controle não foram expostos. Na segunda fase, todos os sujeitos das condições CRF poderiam produzir o reforçador por meio da resposta de pressão à barra reforçada em CRF e os sujeitos de condições FR por meio da mesma resposta reforçada em FR 3. Os dados sugerem que os sujeitos expostos a estímulos apetitivos não contingentes que precisaram de mais tempo para completar a tarefa na Fase 2 (aquisição de 100 reforçadores) apresentaram interferência mais acentuada quando a resposta foi reforçada em FR 3 do que quando a resposta foi reforçada em CRF. Além disso, interferência foi identificada na Fase 2 nos sujeitos que mais apresentaram variabilidade de respostas acidentalmente reforçadas na Fase 1, mas não nos sujeitos que mostraram padrões estereotipados no responder. Os resultados são discutidos com base na contiguidade temporal entre eventos não contingentes, interferência / competição de respostas e diferenças entre contexto aversivo e apetitivo

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:36:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MoniqueRCG.pdf: 235759 bytes, checksum: f48bac41c2a3fb4cf987477fe476f6d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-07 / The plus-maze discriminative avoidance paradigm has been used to study the relationship between aversive memory and anxiety. The present study aims to verify if the elevated plus-maze can provide information about appetitive memory and anxiety, through a task motivated by food reward. Animals were allowed to explore an elevated plus-maze and received reinforcement in one of the enclosed arms. In a test session performed 24h later, in the absence of reward, rats showed preference for the previously rewarded enclosed arm over the neutral enclosed arm. The administration of diazepam and pentylenetetrazole before training induced, respectively, anxiolytic and anxiogenic effects (as evaluated by open-arm exploration). Both drugs induced amnestic effects, i.e., lack of preference for the rewarded arm in the test session. The results suggest that appetitive memory can be influenced by anxiety levels as well. The plus-maze appetitive discrimination task seems to be a useful model to investigate the relationship between memory and anxiety / O paradigma da esquiva discriminativa no labirinto em cruz elevado ? um modelo j? bem consolidado no estudo da intera??o entre aprendizagem/mem?ria aversiva e ansiedade. O presente trabalho busca avaliar se o labirinto em cruz elevado pode fornecer informa??es a respeito da rela??o entre mem?ria apetitiva/aprendizagem e ansiedade, atrav?s de uma tarefa com recompensa. Nessa tarefa, os ratos s?o colocados em um labirinto em cruz elevado, e enquanto exploram o labirinto, recebem recompensa (alimento) em um dos bra?os fechados do labirinto (bra?o apetitivo). Para avaliar nossa hip?tese, alguns animais n?o receberam nenhum tratamento com droga, enquanto outros receberam inje??es i.p de diazepam (DZP) e pentilenotetrazol (PTZ), a fim de avaliar a influ?ncia da ansiedade sobre a aprendizagem. O primeiro experimento, no qual n?o foi administrado nenhuma droga mostrou que os animais conseguiram reter a tarefa permanecendo bastante tempo no bra?o apetitivo tanto na sess?o de treino, quanto no teste. A reten??o foi mais bem avaliada nos 5 primeiros minutos do teste, quando os animais demonstraram clara prefer?ncia pelo bra?o apetitivo, depois houve extin??o da tarefa. Nos outros dois experimentos observou-se a a??o ansiol?tica (DZP) e ansiog?nica (PTZ) dos f?rmacos administrados antes do treino, analisando a explora??o dos bra?os abertos. Ambos apresentaram um efeito amn?stico sobre a tarefa, ou seja, aboliram a prefer?ncia dos animais pelo bra?o apetitivo na sess?o de teste. Conclu?mos que a mem?ria apetitiva pode depender de um n?vel ?timo de ansiedade. A tarefa de discrimina??o apetitiva no labirinto em cruz elevado parece ser um modelo ?til para investigar essa rela??o entre mem?ria apetitiva e ansiedade

Understanding the mechanisms of memory is vital in making sense of the continuity of the self, our experience of time and of the relation between mind and body. The invertebrate Drosophila melanogaster offers us an opportunity to study and comprehend the overwhelming complexity of memory on a smaller scale. The work presented here investigates the neural circuitry in the fly brain required for olfactory memory processing. Our observation that Dorsal Paired Medial (DPM) neurons, which project only to mushroom body (MB) neurons, are required during memory storage but not for acquisition or retrieval, led us to revisit the role of MB neurons in memory processing. We show that neurotransmission from the α'β' subset of MB neurons is required to acquire and stabilize aversive and appetitive odor memory but is dispensable during memory retrieval. In contrast neurotransmission from MB αβ neurons is only required for memory retrieval. These data suggest a dynamic requirement for the different subsets of MB neurons in memory and are consistent with the notion that recurrent activity in a MB α'β' neuron-DPM neuron loop is required to consolidate memories formed in the MB αβ neurons. Furthermore, we show that a single two-minute training session pairing odor with an ethologically relevant sugar reinforcement forms long-term appetitive memory that lasts for days. This robust, stable LTM is protein-synthesis-, Creb- and radish-dependent and relies on the activity in the DPM neuron and mushroom body α'β' neuron circuit during the first hour after training and mushroom body αβ neuron output during retrieval. Lastly, experiments feeding and/or starving flies after training reveals a critical motivational drive that enables memory retrieval. Neural correlates of motivational states are poorly understood, but using our assay we found a neural mechanism that accounts for this motivation-state-dependence. We demonstrate a role for the Neuropeptide F (dNPF) circuitry, which led to the identification of six dopaminergic MB-MP neurons that innervate the mushroom bodies as being critical for appetitive memory performance. Directly blocking the MB-MP neurons releases memory performance in fed flies whereas stimulating them suppresses memory performance in hungry flies. These studies provide us with an enhanced knowledge of systems level memory processing in Drosophila.

Introduction: The emergence of Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) research in the human neurobehavioral domain has been met with increased interest over the past two decades. A variety of PIT tasks were developed during this time; while successful in demonstrating transfer phenomena, existing tasks have limitations that should be addressed. Herein, we introduce two PIT paradigms designed to assess outcome-specific and general PIT within the context of addiction. - Materials and Methods: The single-lever PIT task, based on an established paradigm, replaced button presses with joystick motion to better assess avoidance behavior. The full transfer task uses alcohol and nonalcohol rewards associated with Pavlovian cues and instrumental responses, along with other gustatory and monetary rewards. We constructed mixed-effects models with the addition of other statistical analyses as needed to interpret various behavioral measures.- Results: Single-lever PIT: both versions were successful in eliciting a PIT effect (joystick: p < 0.001, ηp² = 0.36, button-box: p < 0.001, ηp ² = 0.30). Full transfer task: it was determined that the alcohol and nonalcoholic reward cues selectively primed their respective reward-associated responses (gustatory version: p < 0.001, r = 0.59, and monetary version: p < 0.001, r = 0.84). The appetitive/aversive cues resulted in a general transfer effect (gustatory: p < 0.001, ηp² = 0.09, and monetary: p < 0.001, ηp ² = 0.17). - Discussion/Conclusion: Single-lever PIT: PIT was observed in both task versions. We posit that the use of a joystick is more advantageous for the analysis of avoidance behavior. It evenly distributes movement between approach and avoid trials, which is relevant to analyzing fMRI data. Full transfer task: While gustatory conditioning has been used in the past to elicit transfer effects, we present the first paradigm that successfully elicits both specific and general transfers in humans with gustatory alcohol rewards.

Biological invasions are major threats to any nation’s economy and biodiversity. To detect new biological incursions of some species biosecurity agencies deploy pheromone sentinel traps for targeted species at high risk sites such as airports, seaports and transitional facilities. A good example is the gypsy moth surveillance program in New Zealand. Following the detection of an incursion by an unwanted organism, ground-based searches to locate the source can be very expensive, but are essential to identify the introduction pathway and to increase the chances of success eradicating the unwanted organism. In such circumstances, the possibility of better targeting the search for the source of the incursion using a modelling approach is worthy of investigation A stochastic mechanistic model to hindcast moth flight from a recapture location to the release location was developed based on insect behaviour in response to wind and pheromones. The model was composed of two main processes, 1) downwind dispersal, assumed to result from an appetitive behaviour, indicated by an analysis of a previous mark-release-recapture experiment on painted apple moth (Teia anartoides, Walker) and, 2) anemotaxic dispersal inspired by pheromone anemotaxis theory but up-scaled from a fine-scaled behaviour model to a 2 m scale. A genetic algorithm was used to fit some model parameters. A specialised fitness function was developed to allow the genetic algorithm to identify parameters that resulted in models that reflected both the spread and density patterns in the trapping data. The resulting function allowed the stochastic model results to be compared with the inherently stochastic trapping data. The resulting individual based model simulates the spatio-temporal dispersal pattern of painted apple moth recorded during a previous mark-release-recapture experiment. While the proposed model is shown to have limitations with respect to accuracy and precision it is also demonstrated to greatly improve biosecurity incursion response capability, by more efficient targeting of search effort for the proximal source of an incursion.