Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration
Context is the milieu in which everything occurs. Many research studies consider context, or even explicitly manipulate it; yet it remains challenging to characterize. We know that a context surrounds and influences tasks; however, the boundaries of its influence are difficult to define. In behavior...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.714927/full |
| _version_ | 1819122848045727744 |
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| author | Victoria Nemchek Laura A. Agee Cassidy A. Malone Marissa Raskin Sydney Seese Marie H. Monfils Marie H. Monfils |
| author_facet | Victoria Nemchek Laura A. Agee Cassidy A. Malone Marissa Raskin Sydney Seese Marie H. Monfils Marie H. Monfils |
| author_sort | Victoria Nemchek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Context is the milieu in which everything occurs. Many research studies consider context, or even explicitly manipulate it; yet it remains challenging to characterize. We know that a context surrounds and influences tasks; however, the boundaries of its influence are difficult to define. In behavioral science, context is often operationalized by the physical environment in which the experiment takes place, and the boundaries of the context are assumed to begin at the entrance to that of the room or apparatus. Experiences during transportation to the testing space have been shown to impact rodent behavior and memory, but transportation’s relationship with novelty and physical environment is not fully understood. The current study explored how familiar vs. novel cues, both within a physical environment and preceding it, impact the perception of a context. We manipulated context on three levels: physical testing environment, object cues within that environment, and transportation cues preceding entrance to the testing environment. We found that novel transportation cues can change rats’ perception of both familiar and novel contexts. The effects of transportation on perceived context may be affected by the length of the retention interval, testing environment, and behavioral range. These data suggest that context is a broad concept that includes cues across time and is sensitive to small differences in experience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T06:58:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6b6efbf5c9b4405a80f55387fe656853 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T06:58:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-6b6efbf5c9b4405a80f55387fe6568532022-12-21T18:34:51ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532021-07-011510.3389/fnbeh.2021.714927714927Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context ExplorationVictoria Nemchek0Laura A. Agee1Cassidy A. Malone2Marissa Raskin3Sydney Seese4Marie H. Monfils5Marie H. Monfils6Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesInstitute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesInstitute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesContext is the milieu in which everything occurs. Many research studies consider context, or even explicitly manipulate it; yet it remains challenging to characterize. We know that a context surrounds and influences tasks; however, the boundaries of its influence are difficult to define. In behavioral science, context is often operationalized by the physical environment in which the experiment takes place, and the boundaries of the context are assumed to begin at the entrance to that of the room or apparatus. Experiences during transportation to the testing space have been shown to impact rodent behavior and memory, but transportation’s relationship with novelty and physical environment is not fully understood. The current study explored how familiar vs. novel cues, both within a physical environment and preceding it, impact the perception of a context. We manipulated context on three levels: physical testing environment, object cues within that environment, and transportation cues preceding entrance to the testing environment. We found that novel transportation cues can change rats’ perception of both familiar and novel contexts. The effects of transportation on perceived context may be affected by the length of the retention interval, testing environment, and behavioral range. These data suggest that context is a broad concept that includes cues across time and is sensitive to small differences in experience.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.714927/fullcontextexploratory behaviorobject playnoveltyretention intervalrat |
| spellingShingle | Victoria Nemchek Laura A. Agee Cassidy A. Malone Marissa Raskin Sydney Seese Marie H. Monfils Marie H. Monfils Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience context exploratory behavior object play novelty retention interval rat |
| title | Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration |
| title_full | Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration |
| title_fullStr | Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration |
| title_short | Altering Perceived Context: Transportation Cues Influence Novelty-Induced Context Exploration |
| title_sort | altering perceived context transportation cues influence novelty induced context exploration |
| topic | context exploratory behavior object play novelty retention interval rat |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.714927/full |
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