Comparative psychology and behavioural neuroscience

Overview

Overview

Introduction

Psychological research is conducted with non-human animals both because the behaviour they show is of interest in its own right and also because the study of a variety of species can help to reveal psychological principles that are of general relevance. Both these perspectives are reflected in the work of the Comparative Psychology and Behavioural Neuroscience research group.

Facilities

The department's commitment to research in comparative psychology and behavioural neuroscience was established early on when a small animal laboratory was set up immediately after the department was founded in 1975. Over the years this has grown and we now have a purpose-built facility, fully refurbished in 2006. There are five climate-controlled animal-holding rooms (for birds, small mammals, and reptiles), a suite of experimental rooms equipped with Skinner boxes and other behavioural testing apparatus, facilities for surgery and histology, and a workshop. The work of the laboratory is supported by two full-time technicians.

Focus

Initially research in the laboratory was concerned principally with the behavioural and physiological analysis of basic mechanisms of learning and motivation in rodents, using standard laboratory techniques of classical and instrumental conditioning. This work continues, but the focus on interest has now widened to include comparative cognition more generally with research projects on complex perception and information processing in a range of laboratory species, in wild-living primates and a range of zoo-housed species.

Learning and motivation

Our laboratory work is chiefly concerned to investigate basic mechanisms of learning and motivation by means of experimental studies conducted with the laboratory rat as the subject. One line of work being conducted at York is particularly concerned with the mechanisms by which organisms become adapted to environmental circumstances as a result of learning; the intention is to develop a formal theory of associative learning (in which animals learn the relationship between environmental events), and of perceptual learning (whereby they learn to discriminate one event from another). Associative learning processes play a part in the development of drug addiction and an understanding of the brain mechanisms responsible is a matter of prime practical importance. Our work in this area concentrates on the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine and of the brain structure known as the amygdala. This structure is important for emotional learning generally, and we are also studying the role it plays in allowing animals to learn to suppress behaviour that leads to aversive consequences. This work complements that being done by our cognitive neuroscience group who are using imaging techniques to study parallel phenomena in special human populations (eg sufferers from ADHD).

Comparative cognition

Our work in comparative cognition assesses the extent to which standard associative accounts of learning can be applied to more complex instances of animal behaviour, and the highlights cases in which other cognitive processes must be invoked to explain the behaviour observed. Laboratory work has included studies of visual motion detection in birds and of spatial learning in reptiles; fieldwork has concentrated on vocal communication in chimpanzees, although the wild birdlife on the campus lake has not been neglected. The local zoo has afforded the opportunity to study a range of species including primates, wallabies, and lions.

People

People

Faculty

Research staff

  • Dr Yvonna Lavis
  • Dr Anne Schel
  • Dr Michelle Symonds

Research students

  • Pawel Fedurek
  • Scott Franklin
  • Marta Gil
  • Tanja Kaller
  • Sarah Papworth

Technical staff

  • Stuart Morley
  • Richard Wood

Projects

Projects

Mechanisms of attentional learning

Brain mechanisms in addictive behaviour

Communication in chimpanzees

Brain mechanisms in response suppression

Publications

Publications

In press

  • Hall, G. (in press). Attentional learning. In C. Mitchell & M. Le Pelley (Eds.), Attention and learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Hall, G., & Rodriguez, G. (in press). Associative and nonassociative processes in latent inhibition: An elaboration of the Pearce-Hall model. In R.E. Lubow & I. Weiner (Eds.), Latent inhibition: Data, theories, and applications to schizophrenia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Phillips, G.D., Salussolia, E., & Hitchcott, P.K. (in press). Role of the mesoamygdaloid dopamine projection in emotional learning. Psychopharmacology, in press.
  • Staddon, J.E.R, MacPhail, R.C., & Padilla. S. (In press). Successive induction in larval zebrafish. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.
  • Staddon, J. E. R. (In press). Faith and goodness: A reply to Hocutt. Philosophy and Behavior.
  • Symonds, M., & Hall, G. (In press). Avoidance, anxiety, and aversion in the clinical setting: The role of classical conditioning. In M. Haselgrove & L. Hogarth (Eds.), Clinical applications of learning theory. Hove: Psychology Press.

2010

  • Casey, B. J., Jones, R. M., Levita, L., Libby, V., Pattwell, S. S., Ruberry, E. J., Soliman, F., & Somerville, L. H. (2010) The storm and stress of adolescence: Insights from human imaging and mouse genetics. Developmental Psychobiology (Published ahead of print).
  • Levita, L., & Muzzio, I. A. (2010). Role of the hippocampus in goal-oriented tasks requiring retrieval of spatial versus non-spatial information. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (Published ahead of print).
  • Soliman, F., Glatt, C. E., Bath, K. G., Levita, L., Jones, R. M., Pattwell, S. S., Jing, D., Tottenham, N., Amso, D., Somerville, L. H., Voss, H. U., Glover, G., Ballon, D. J., Liston, C., Teslovich, T., Van Kempen, T., Lee, F. S., & Casey, B. J.(2010) A genetic variant BDNF polymorphism alters extinction learning in both mouse and human. Science, 327(5967), 863-866.

2009

  • Casey, B. J., Glatt, C. E., Tottenham, N., Soliman, F., Bath, K., Amso, D., Altemus, M., Pattwell, S., Jones, R., Levita, L., McEwen, B., Magarinos, A. M., Gunnar, M., Thomas, K. M., Mezey, J., Clark, A. G., Hempstead, B. L., & Lee, F. S. (2009). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor as a model system for examining gene by environment interactions across development. Neuroscience, 164, 108-120.
  • Guo, J. D., Hammack, S. E., Hazra, R., Levita, L., & Rainnie, D. G. (2009). Bi-directional modulation of bed nucleus of stria terminalis neurons by 5-HT: molecular expression and functional properties of excitatory 5-HT receptor subtypes. Neuroscience, 16, 1776-1793.
  • Hall, G. (2009). Preexposure to the unconditioned stimulus in nausea-based aversion learning. In S. Reilly, & T. R. Schachtman (Eds.), Conditioned taste aversion: Behavioral and neural processes (pp. 58-73). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Hall, G. (2009). Perceptual learning in human and nonhuman animals: A Search for common ground. Learning & Behavior, 37, 133-140.
  • Hall. G. (2009). J.B. Watson: The thinking man's behaviourist. British Journal of Psychology, 100, 185-187.
  • Hall, G. (2009). Learning in simple systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 210-211.
  • Hall, G., & Rodriguez, G. (2009). Factors determining the effects of associative activation on habituation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35, 266-270.
  • Hall, G., Symonds, M., & Rodriguez, M. (2009). Enhanced latent inhibition in context aversion conditioning. Learning and Motivation, 40, 62-73.
  • Levita, L., Hare, T. A., Voss, H. U., Glover, G., Ballon, D. J., & Casey, B. J. (2009). The bivalent side of the nucleus accumbens. Neuroimage, 44, 1178-1187.
  • Muzzio, I. A., Levita, L., Kulkarni, J., Monaco, J., Kentros, C., Stead, M., Abbott, L. F., & Kandel, E. R. (2009). Attention enhances the retrieval and stability of visuospatial and olfactory representations in the dorsal hippocampus. PLoS Biol, 7(6), e1000140.
  • Phillips, G.D., & Hitchcott, P.K. (2009). Blockade of the acquisition, but not expression, of associative learning by pre-session intra-amygdala R(+) 7-OH-DPAT. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 203,161-73
  • Slocombe, K. E., Townsend, S.W., & Zuberbühler, K. (2009). Wild chimpanzees distinguish between different scream types: Evidence from a playback study, Animal Cognition, 12, 441-449.
  • Wilkinson, A., Coward, S., Hall, G. (2009). Visual and response-base navigation in the tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria). Animal Cognition, 12, 779-787.

2008

  • Hall, G. (2008). Pearce-Hall error learning theory. Scholarpedia, 3(2): 5274
  • Hall, G. (2008). Perceptual learning. In H.L. Roediger, III (Ed.), Cognitive psychology of memory. Vol. 1 of Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference (J. Byrne, Ed) (pp. 103-121). Oxford: Elsevier.
  • Mitchell, C., Nash, S., & Hall, G. (2008). The intermixed blocked effect in human perceptual learning is not the consequence of trial spacing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 237-242.
  • Mitchell, C., Kadib, R., Nash, S., Lavis, Y., & Hall, G. (2008). Analysis of the role of associative inhibition in perceptual learning by means of the same-different task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 34, 475-485.
  • Rodriguez, G., Blair, C.A.J., & Hall, G. (2008). The role of comparison in the perceptual learning effect: Effects of concurrent exposure to similar stimuli on the perceptual effectiveness of their unique features. Learning & Behavior, 36, 75-81.
  • Rodriguez, G., & Hall, G. (2008). Potentiation of latent inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 34, 352-360.
  • Staddon, J. E. R. & Jozefowiez, J. (2008). Operant Behavior. In H. L. Roediger, III (Ed.), Cognitive psychology of memory. Vol. of Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference. (J. Byrne, Ed.). Oxford, Elsevier.
  • Staddon, J. E. R., & Niv, Y. (2008). Operant conditioning. Scholarpedia, 3(9):2318. http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Operant_conditioning
  • Staddon, J. (2008). Gridlock: Research, teaching, curriculum, and the faculty in the modern university. Review of Whatever happened to the faculty? Drift and decision in higher education, by Mary Burgan. Academic Questions, 20, 370-381.
  • Staddon, J. (2008) Distracting Miss Daisy. The Atlantic, July-August, 102-104. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/traffic/1
  • Staddon, J. (2008). Epilogue. In N. K. Innis (Ed.), Reflections on adaptive behavior: Essays in honor of J. E. R. Staddon (pp. 389-390). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Staddon, J. (2008) Paley redivivus, Response: A dialogue between Fodor and Staddon. PsyCrit, February 12.

2007

  • Hall, G. (2007). Learned changes in stimulus representations (a personal history). Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10, 218-229.
  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2007). Chimpanzees modify recruitment screams as a function of audience composition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 104 , 17228-17233
  • Staddon, J. E. R., Jozefowiez, J., & Cerutti, D. T. (2007). Metacognition: A problem not a process. PsyCrit, April. http://psycrit.com/Articles
  • Staddon, J. E. R. (2007). Is animal learning optimal? In A. Bejan & G. W. Merkx (Eds.) Constructal theory of social dynamics (pp. 161-167). Springer Verlag.
  • Staddon, J. E. R. (2007) Metacognition: A problem not a process. PsyCrit, March 15.
  • Staddon, J. E. R. (2007). Rationality and process. PsyCrit, May 25.
  • Townsend, S. W., Slocombe, K. E., Emery-Thompson, M. & Zuberbühler, K. (2007). Female-led infanticide in wild chimpanzees. Current Biology, 17, R355-R356.
  • Wilkinson, A., Chann, H.M., & Hall, G. (2007). Spatial learning and memory in the tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 121, 412-418

2006

  • Artigas, A.A., Sansa, J., Blair, C.A.J., Hall, G., & Prados, J. (2006). Enhanced discrimination between flavor stimuli: Roles of salience modulation and inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 173-177.
  • Hall, G., Blair, C.A.J., & Artigas, A.A. (2006). Associative activation of stimulus representations restores lost salience: Implications for perceptual learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 145-155.
  • Hall, G., & Symonds, M. (2006). Overshadowing and latent inhibition of context aversion conditioning in the rat. Autonomic Neuroscience, 129, 42-49.
  • Limebeer, C.L., Hall, G., & Parker, L.A. (2006). Exposure to a lithium-paired context elicits gaping in rats: A model of anticipatory nausea. Physiology & Behavior, 88, 398-403.
  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2006). Food-associated calls in chimpanzees: Responses to food types or food preferences? Animal Behaviour, 72, 989-999.
  • Staddon, J. E. R., & Higa, J. J. (2006). Interval timing. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7, August.
  • Staddon, J. (2006). Did Skinner miss the point about teaching? International Journal of Psychology, 4, 555-558.

2005

  • Bonardi, C., Hall, G., & Ong, S.Y. (2005). Analysis of the learned irrelevance effect in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58B, 141-162.
  • Bonardi, C., Graham, S., Hall, G., & Mitchell, C. (2005). Acquired distinctiveness and equivalence in human discrimination learning: Evidence for an attentional process. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12, 88-92.
  • Brugada, I., González, F., & Hall, G. (2005). The role of habituation of the response to LiCl in the US-preexposure effect. Learning & Behavior, 33, 363-370.
  • Hall, G. (2005). Learning. In M. Hewstone, F.D. Fincham, & J. Foster (Eds.), Psychology (pp. 72-92). Oxford: BPS/Blackwell.
  • Hall, G., Prados, J., & Sansa, J. (2005). Modulation of the effective salience of a stimulus by direct and associative activation of its representation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 31, 267-276.
  • Kirkpatrick, K., & Hall, G. (2005). Learning and memory. In J. Bolhuis & L-A. Giraldeau (Eds.), The behavior of animals (pp. 146-169). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Klosterhalfen, S., Kellermann, S., Stockhorst, U., Wolf, J., Kirschbaum, C., Hall, G., & Enck, P. (2005). Latent inhibition of rotation-chair induced nausea in healthy male and female volunteers. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 335-340.
  • Klosterhalfen, S., Kellermann, S., Pan, F., Stockhorst, U., Hall, G., & Enck, P. (2005). Effects of ethnicity and gender on motion sickness susceptibility. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 76, 1051-1057.
  • Slocombe, K. E., & Newton-Fisher, N. E. (2005). Fruit sharing in wild chimpanzees; a socially significant event? American Journal of Primatology, 65, 385-391
  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2005). Functionally referential communication in a chimpanzee. Current Biology, 15, 1779-1784.
  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2005). Agonistic screams in wild chimpanzees vary as a function of social role. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 119, 67-77.
  • Staddon, J. (2005). Beyond method. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 18, 42-45
  • Staddon, J. E. R. (2005). Interval timing: Memory, not a clock. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 312-314.

2004

  • Blair, C.A.J., Bonardi, C., & Hall, G. (2004). Differential effects of 8-OH-DPAT on two forms of appetitive Pavlovian conditioning in the rat. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118, 1439-1443.
  • Blair, C.A.J., Wilkinson, A., & Hall, G. (2004). Assessments of changes in the effective salience of stimulus elements as a result of stimulus preexposure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 30, 317-324.
  • Brugada, I., Hall, G., & Symonds, M. (2004). The US-preexposure effect in lithium-induced flavor aversion conditioning is a consequence of blocking by injection cues. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 30, 58-66.
  • Prados, J., Hall, G., & Leonard, S. (2004). Dissociation between the Espinet and perceptual learning effects in flavour aversion conditioning. Behavioural Processes, 65, 221-229.
  • Shevill, I., & Hall, G. (2004). Retrospective revaluation effects in the conditioned suppression procedure. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57B, 331-347.
  • Staddon, J. E. R. (2004). The future. Behavior and Philosophy, 32, 243-245.

Grants

Grants

  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (2004 - 2007)
    A test of a hierarchical account of conditional learning (Hall with Dr C. Bonardi) (£276,585)
  • National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (2005 - 2006)
    Young Investigator Award (Liat Levita). ($30,000)
  • Australian Research Council (2005 - 2008)
    Discovery project: Discrimination learning in humans: Associative and attentional mechanisms (Hall with Dr C. Mitchell, University of New South Wales). (A$ 135,000)
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (2006 - 2009)
    Stimulus preexposure effects and associative learning. (Hall). (£208,918)
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (2006 - 2009)
    Reward value effects on reward timing (Hall with Dr K. Kirkpatrick, Kansas State University). (£310,749)
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (2008 - 2011)
    Perceptual learning: Effects and mechanisms. (Hall). (£282,250)
  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (2009 - 2012)
    Project grant: Effectos de exposicion a los estimulos en el aprendizaje associativo (Hall with Dr I. de Brugada, University of Granada). (€92,000).
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (2009 -2012)
    New Investigator Project Grant : To call or not to call: Mechanisms underlying call production in chimpanzees. (Slocombe). (£293,943).