Measuring affect-related cognitive bias: Do mice in opposite affective states react differently to negative and positive stimuli?

Abstract

Affect-driven cognitive biases can be used as an indicator of affective (emotional) state. Since humans in negative affective states demonstrate greater responses to negatively-valenced stimuli, we investigated putative affect-related bias in mice by monitoring their response to unexpected, task-irrelevant stimuli of different valence. Thirty-one C57BL/6J and 31 DBA/2J females were individually trained to return to their home-cage in a runway. Mice then underwent an affective manipulation acutely inducing a negative (NegAff) or a comparatively less negative (CompLessNeg) affective state before immediately being tested in the runway with either an ‘attractive’ (familiar food) or ‘threatening’ (flashing light) stimulus. Mice were subsequently trained and tested again (same affective manipulation) with the alternative stimulus. As predicted, mice were slower to approach the light and spent more time with the food. DBA/2J mice were slower than C57BL/6J overall. Contrary to predictions, NegAff mice tended to approach both stimuli more readily than CompLessNeg mice, especially the light, and even more so for DBA/2Js. Although the stimuli successfully differentiated the response of mice to unexpected, task-irrelevant stimuli, further refinement may be required to disentangle the effects of affect manipulation and arousal on the response to valenced stimuli. The results also highlight the significant importance of considering strain differences when developing cognitive tasks.

Disclosure and health-related outcomes among children living with HIV and their caregivers

“…It is plausible that older children and adolescents living with HIV have adequate knowledge about HIV, have become responsible for self-care and so disclosure of status is necessary for adherence to ART. In Ghana, it has been established that adolescents living with HIV who were knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS were more likely to have their HIV status disclosed to them [ 35 , 36 ].…”

The impact of handling technique and handling frequency on laboratory mouse welfare is sex-specific

“…Therefore a burrowing mouse may have impairments in affective behaviours, but a mouse that does not burrow is more likely to display such impairments. Apparently, the affective state of a mouse cannot be detected by a single wellbeing parameter, but it can be still used as an indicator 16,29,46,47 . More research is necessary to illuminate the full connection between burrowing behaviour and the affective state 46 .…”

Altered neuronal lactate dehydrogenase A expression affects cognition in a sex- and age-dependent manner

“…Emotional state and temperament can influence cognitive ability. 88 , 89 To gauge the extent to which temperament is influenced by modifying neuronal Ldha expression, anxiety-like behavior was evaluated using two different paradigms, thigmotaxis ( Figure 5 A) and the light-dark box ( Figure 5 D). Thigmotaxis is an anxiety-like behavior defined by the centrophobic tendency to stay near the walls of a novel open space.…”