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: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739009
• 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.

贮食鸟是研究动物行为和认知的重要模型。它们记住大量食物储藏地点的能力，导致了关于记忆的新发现。与不储存食物的鸟类相比，储存食物的鸟类也有更大的海马体，海马体中新神经元的招募也更大。这些专业化使得在动物身上测试关于记忆和成年神经发生的新想法成为可能，在这些动物中，记忆在它们的自然生活中起着关键作用。尽管对这些鸟类的研究取得了显着的进展，但我们对自然界中的食物储存行为知之甚少，而且关于食物储存鸟类的记忆和大脑仍然存在许多问题。该提案描述了以下项目：1）野生动物的食物储存行为，2）记忆的认知控制，3）食物储存鸟类的海马神经发生。 黑顶山雀的食物储存发生在社会背景下。在秋季和冬季，当大多数存储发生，山雀生活在多达12个个体的群体。通过将纳米标签无线电发射器附着在山雀身上，并在山雀栖息地架设永久性无线电天线，我们已经能够同时连续几个月检测到许多鸟类。在拟议的研究中，无线电标签检测数据将与缓存行为的直接观察相结合，以建立个人如何分配和检索他们的缓存在防御冬季领土的群体运动的限制。记忆由多个可分离的系统组成，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。黑顶山雀的食物储存和获取发生在其他行为的背景下。由于它们专门用于食物缓存，与非缓存鸟类相比，山雀可能会对记忆有更大的认知控制。我建议比较存储食物的山雀和非存储的黑眼容科斯的记忆的认知控制。成人海马神经发生是一个持久的谜。有人假设它既能为新的记忆提供新的神经元，又能加速遗忘。在山雀中，海马神经发生在秋季和冬季升高，其模式大致与季节性食物储存的增加相对应。尽管我的实验室和其他人的发现很诱人，但是，关于鸟类成年海马神经发生的时间过程或新神经元如何整合到海马回路中的系统研究很少。我建议建立海马招聘的时间过程中，新的神经元的活动模式（由即时早期基因表达决定）和使用记忆对食物储存鸟类神经发生的影响。这项研究将为野生动物的认知、记忆的组织和成年海马神经发生的功能提供新的信息。