Methods (part 1)

Question 1

Why do we need to measure the behaviour of a whole organism

Answer 1

treatments and cures need to be tested on organism to check for therapeutic value and unwanted side effects

Question 2

Clinical relevance of measuring behaviours

Answer 2

• fear (PTSD, phobias)
• anxiety (product of condition)
• attention (schizophrenia, ADHD)
• depression (bipolar disorder)
• locomotor activity (PD)
• locomotor coordination (Huntington’s Chorea)
• learning (autism spectrum disorder)
• memory (Alzhimer’s disease)
• sensory perception (pain sensitivity, chronic pain)

Question 3

How can we measure fear

Answer 3

cued or contextual fear conditioning

Question 4

How can we measure anxiety

Answer 4

elevated plus maze/light-dark maze

Question 5

How can we measure attention

Answer 5

attentional set-shifting task

Question 6

How can we measure depression

Answer 6

learned helplessness

Question 7

How can we measure locomotor activity

Answer 7

activity box

Question 8

How can we measure locomotor coordination

Answer 8

rotarod, skilled reaching, balance beam

Question 9

How can we measure learning

Answer 9

morris water maze, radial arm maze, paired associate learning

Question 10

How can we measure memory

Answer 10

memory: spontaneous alternation, novel object recognition

Question 11

How can we measure sensory perception

Answer 11

Von Frey test, temperature sensitivity

Question 12

What are the 3 validity criteria for animal models

Answer 12

• construct validity
• predictive validity
• face validity

Question 13

Describe construct validity

Answer 13

similar cause of pathophysiology between the human condition and the animal model

Question 14

Describe predictive validity

Answer 14

treatments that are effective in animal models are also effective in human patients, and vice versa

Question 15

Describe face validity

Answer 15

the symptoms of the animal model mimic the symptoms of the human condition

Question 16

Describe the simplified duel coding for behavioral tasks

Answer 16

• translational: train an animal to mimic a human test
• naturalistic: use a relevant intrinsic or innate skill or preference of the animal

Question 17

Describe classical conditioning

Answer 17

• e.g. Pavlov’s dog
• stimulus triggers biological response is paired with a new stimulus that results in the same reaction
• cannot create new behaviour, but instead triggers involuntary biological responses
• conditioning can be undone through extinction

Question 18

Clinical relevance of classical conditioning

Answer 18

• e.g. addiction
• contextual cues of drug taking/smoking/drinking
• can be positive/negative
• conditioned stimulus affect physiological response, so might compensate for “missing” conditioned stimulus

Question 19

What is an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 19

intrinsic response (e.g. dog salivating)

Question 20

Cued fear conditioning

Answer 20

• unlearned sound = shock (unconditioned stimulus) = freeze (jump/run)
• learned sound (conditioned stimulus) = freeze

Question 21

Contextual fear conditioning

Answer 21

• dining room when sound and no shock = no freeze
• bedroom with sound and shock = freeze
• bedroom with sound and no shock = freeze

Question 22

Parts of the brain involved in cued fear conditioning

Answer 22

amygdala

Question 23

Parts of the brain involved in contextual fear conditioning

Answer 23

amygdala and hippocampus

Question 24

Role of the hippocampus

Answer 24

• store and remember information
• ‘tags’ memories with information about where and when they occurred
• when ‘threat system’ is active, the hippocampus doesnt work as well and can forget to tag the memories with time and place information, meaning they sometimes get stores in the wrong place
• when we remember it can feel like it is happening again

Question 25

Role of the amygdala

Answer 25

• threat system
• set off fight or flight response
• not good at discriminating between real dangers and percieved dangers
• can trigger FoF by just thinking about unpleasant memory or danger that has passed

Question 26

Regulatory relationships between the mPFC, hippocampus and amygdala

Answer 26

• mPFC inhibits amygdala and stimulates hippocampus
• amygdala inhibits mPFC and hippocampus
• hippocampus inhibits amygdala and stimulates mPFC

Question 27

Lateral hypothalamus in panic response

Answer 27

• increased HR
• increased BP

Question 28

Dorsal vagal nerve in panic response

Answer 28

• bradycardia
• ulcer disease

Question 29

Parabrachial nerve in panic response

Answer 29

• panting
• respiratory diseases

Question 30

Basal forebrain in panic response

Answer 30

• arousal
• hypervigilance
• attention

Question 31

Nucleus reticularis pontis caudalis in panic response

Answer 31

increased startle response

Question 32

Central grey area in panic response

Answer 32

• freezing
• decreased social interaction

Question 33

Paraventricular nerve in panic response

Answer 33

corticosteroid release

Question 34

What is active place avoidance

Answer 34

• “sophisticated” version of fear conditioning
• tests accurate spatial learning and spatial strategies
• using negative reinforcer (shock)
• creates angry/anxious/ fearful mice

Question 35

Describe active place avoidance

Question 36

Measuring anxiety

Answer 36

• elevated plus maze / light-dark maze
• measure time spent in oven (aversive) vs closed (safe) arms
• no certain stimulation
• prefer dark environment
• more anxious they are, longer it would take to come into open arms
• uses natural animal behaviour

Question 37

Measuring attention

Answer 37

• attentional set-shifting task
• rat/mouse pay attention to either odour of bowl, texture of digging medium, or texture of bowl covering
• correct strategy is switched frequently
• test attention to different types of sitmuli
• wisconsin card shifting task

Question 38

Measuring depression