Error modulates categorization of subsecond durations in multitasking contexts.

Monitoring errors consumes limited cognitive resources and can disrupt subsequent task performance in multitasking scenarios. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence concerning this interference with prospective estimation of time. In this study, we sought to investigate this issue through a serial multitasking experiment, employing a temporal bisection task as the primary task. We introduced two task contexts by implementing two different concurrent tasks. In one context, participants were tasked with discriminating the size difference between two visual items, while in the other context, they were required to judge the temporal order of similar visual items. The primary task remained the same for the entire experiment. Psychophysical metrics, including subjective bias (determined by the bisection point) and temporal sensitivity (measured by the Weber ratio), in addition to reaction time, remained unaltered in the primary task regardless of the perceptual context exerted by the concurrent tasks. However, commission of error in the concurrent tasks (i.e., non-specific errors) led to a right-ward shift in the bisection point, indicating underestimation of time after errors. Applying a drift-diffusion framework for temporal decision making, we observed alterations in the starting point and drift rate parameters, supporting the error-induced underestimation of time. The error-induced effects were all diminished with increasing a delay between the primary and concurrent task, indicating an adaptive response to errors at a trial level. Furthermore, the error-induced shift in the bisection point was diminished in the second half of the experiment, probably because of a decline in error significance and subsequent monitoring response. These findings indicate that non-specific errors impact the prospective estimation of time in multitasking scenarios, yet their effects can be alleviated through both local and global reallocation of cognitive resources from error processing to time processing.

Sex difference in cognitive behavioral alterations and barrel cortex neuronal responses in rats exposed prenatally to valproic acid under continuous environmental enrichment.

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that can affect social interactions and sensory-motor behaviors. The present study investigates the effect of environmental enrichment (EE) on behavioral alterations and neuron responses associated with the barrel cortex of young adult female and male rats exposed prenatally to valproic acid (VPA). Pregnant female rats were pretreated with either saline or VPA (500 mg/kg, IP) on day 12.5 of gestation. Male and female pups were exposed to either EE or standard-setting (non-enrichment) conditions for 1 month (between postnatal day [PND] 30 and 63-65) and were divided into non-EE (control), EE, VPA, and VPA + EE groups. Three-chamber sociability and social novelty, acoustic startle reflex, and texture discrimination tests were conducted on PND 62. Responses of barrel cortex neurons of male pups were evaluated using the extracellular single-unit recording technique on PND 63-65. Results showed that the performance of rats of both sexes in social interactions, texture discrimination tasks, and acoustic startle reflex significantly decreased in the VPA groups compared with the control rats (P < 0.05). In this regard, EE attenuated the altered deficit performance observed in the VPA animals compared with the VPA-EE animals (P < 0.05). The performance of females was better than males in the discrimination tasks and acoustic startle reflex. In contrast, males were better than females in the three-chamber social interaction test. Additionally, the excitatory receptive field response magnitude of the barrel cortex neurons in the VPA + EE group increased compared with the VPA group (P < 0.05). The results suggest that continuous EE can attenuate cognitive function disturbances in autistic-like rats and, at least at the behavioral level, the effects depend on sex.

Temporal order judgment of multisensory stimuli in rat and human.

We do not fully understand the resolution at which temporal information is processed by different species. Here we employed a temporal order judgment (TOJ) task in rats and humans to test the temporal precision with which these species can detect the order of presentation of simple stimuli across two modalities of vision and audition. Both species reported the order of audiovisual stimuli when they were presented from a central location at a range of stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA)s. While both species could reliably distinguish the temporal order of stimuli based on their sensory content (i.e., the modality label), rats outperformed humans at short SOAs (less than 100 ms) whereas humans outperformed rats at long SOAs (greater than 100 ms). Moreover, rats produced faster responses compared to humans. The reaction time data further revealed key differences in decision process across the two species: at longer SOAs, reaction times increased in rats but decreased in humans. Finally, drift-diffusion modeling allowed us to isolate the contribution of various parameters including evidence accumulation rates, lapse and bias to the sensory decision. Consistent with the psychophysical findings, the model revealed higher temporal sensitivity and a higher lapse rate in rats compared to humans. These findings suggest that these species applied different strategies for making perceptual decisions in the context of a multimodal TOJ task.

Alcohol and nicotine co-Administration during pregnancy and lactation periods alters sensory discrimination of adult NMRI mice offspring.

The present study investigated the impacts of alcohol, nicotine, and their co-administration during pregnancy and lactation on sensory information processing including visual, tactile, and auditory discrimination in adult NMRI mice offspring. Pregnant mice were injected with saline or 20% alcohol (3 g/kg), or nicotine (1 mg/kg) or their co-administration alcohol+nicotine, intraperitoneally until the end of lactation. The offspring were separated from their mothers after lactation period on postnatal day (PND) 28. The locomotor activity, novel object recognition-dependent on visual system (NOR-VS), novel texture discrimination- dependent on somatosensory system (NTR-SS), and acoustic startle reflex were evaluated in PND90. The results revealed no statistical significance for locomotor activity of alcohol, nicotine, and co-administration alcohol+nicotine groups compared to the saline group in the open field task. The results, however, showed a significant decline in the ability of novel object discrimination in the nicotine and co-administration alcohol + nicotine groups compared to the saline group (P < 0.05) in the NOR-VS task. In the NTR-SS and acoustic startle reflex tasks, texture discrimination and the prepulse inhibition abilities in the offspring administered with nicotine and alcohol alone were reduced when compared to the saline group. Also, co-administration of alcohol+nicotine groups showed a decline in the aforementioned tests compared to the saline group (P <0.05). Administration of alcohol and nicotine during fetal and postpartum development disrupts sensory processing of inputs of visual, tactile, and auditory systems in adult mice.

Function of opioidergic and dopaminergic antagonists on both spatial and object novelty detection deficits induced in rodent model of hepatic encephalopathy.

Liver disease has been known for a long time to affect brain function. We now report the function of opioidergic and dopaminergic antagonists on both spatial and object novelty detection deficits induced by hepatic encephalopathy (HE) following bile duct ligation (BDL), a model of chronic liver disease. Assessment of spatial and object novelty detection memories was carried out in the non-associative task. It consists of placing mice in an open field containing five objects and, after three sessions of habituation, examining their reactivity to object displacement (spatial novelty) and object substitution (object novelty). Both spatial and object novelty detection memories were impaired by BDL after 4 weeks. In the BDL mice, pre-test intraperitoneal administration of naloxone (µ-opioidergic receptor antagonist) at dose of 0.9mg/kg restored while sulpiride (D2-like dopamine receptor antagonist) at dose of 40mg/kg potentiated object novelty detection memory deficit. However, SCH23390 (D1-like dopamine receptor antagonist) at dose of 0.04mg/kg or sulpiride (20mg/kg) restored spatial novelty detection memory deficit. Moreover, SCH23390 or sulpiride impaired while naloxone did not alter both memories in sham-operated mice. Furthermore, subthreshold dose co-administration of dopaminergic antagonists together or each one plus naloxone did not alter both memory impairments in BDL mice, while all of three co-administration groups impaired object novelty detection and co-administration of naloxone plus sulpiride impaired spatial detection memory in sham-operated mice. In conclusion, we suggest that opioidergic and dopaminergic systems through separate pathways may contribute in memory impairments induced by BDL in the non-associative task.

The effects of dopaminergic drugs in the dorsal hippocampus of mice in the nicotine-induced anxiogenic-like response.

RATIONALE: Nicotine, an active alkaloid of tobacco has an acetylcholine property that alters anxiety-like behaviors in rodents. Moreover, several investigations suggest that the mesolimbic/cortical dopamine systems to be involved in the drugs affecting anxiety. The dopaminergic modulation of acetylcholine synaptic transmission has also been also suggested by different studies. Furthermore, modulation of such behaviors in rodents may be mediated through the dorsal hippocampus. OBJECTIVES: In the present study, a possible role of the dorsal hippocampal acetylcholine receptor mechanism in nicotine's influence on anxiogenic-like responses has been investigated. METHODS: During test sessions, the hole-board was used to investigate the effects of SCH23390, sulpiride, SKF38393 and quipirole on nicotine response in mice. RESULTS: Intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of nicotine (0.5 mg/kg) decreased the number of head dips but had no effect on other behaviors. Intra-dorsal hippocampal injections of ineffective doses of SCH23390 (SCH; 0.125 and 0.25 µg/mouse) or sulpiride (SUL; 0.5 and 0.75 µg/mouse) reversed head dips induced by nicotine but did not impact other exploratory behaviors. Furthermore, co-administration of ineffective doses of SKF38393 (SKF; 4 µg/mouse, dorsal hippocampus) or quipirole (QUI; 0.5 µg/mouse) in conjunction with an ineffective dose of nicotine (0.25 mg/kg, i.p.) decreased head dips induced by nicotine, but were otherwise ineffective. CONCLUSION: These results may indicate a modulatory effect for the dorsal hippocampus dopamine receptors (D1 and D2) on an anxiogenic-like response induced by nicotine.