FRANCESCA ZORATTO1,FRANCESCA FRANCHI1,DIANA CASH2,JEFFREY C.GLENNON3,SIMONE MACRÌ1,
GIOVANNI LAVIOLA1
1 Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Centro di Riferimento per le Scienze comportamentali e la Salute mentale, Roma
2 King’s College London - Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, UK
3 Radboud University Medical Centre - Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, NL
francesca.zoratto@iss.it
Deficits in empathy, the ability to share an emotion of another individual, constitute a hallmark of several psychopathological conditions, including conduct disorder (CD) and adult psychopathy. CD is also characterised by excess rates of aggression, often associated with shallow or deficient affect, violation of societal norms and callous-unemotional traits. CD symptoms are quantitative rather than qualitative in nature, whereby patients indulge in normal behaviours albeit at abnormal rates. An experimental model of CD shall thus replicate the quantitative nature of CD-specific symptoms. Here, we present a theoretical framework apt to the design of a mouse model of CD, and then describe how it has been used to test the potential therapeutic efficacy of oxytocin and methylphenidate. Resting upon the hypothesis that lack of empathy may constitute a distinctive feature of CD, we tested whether mice exhibiting extremely low levels of empathy also show excess aggression, diminished sociability, punishment-related emotional memory, and physiological stress reactivity, and norm violation. We investigated empathy in the simplest form of emotional contagion: specifically, mice exposed to a painful stimulus display a higher response if in the presence of a familiar individual also experiencing pain, than in isolation. In accordance with our predictions, excess callousness is associated with many of the aforementioned behavioural and physiological abnormalities. High resolution structural imaging revealed subtle differences in regional brain volume and fibre organization in mice selected for high and low empathy-like traits. Affected brain areas comprise circuits that mediate fear behaviour and olfactory processing. We then observed that intranasal oxytocin administration normalised empathy-like behaviour, aggression, and behavioural stereotypies. Conversely, the compensatory effects of methylphenidate on these abnormalities were less pervasive. Ultimately, we offer that empathy may constitute a central node in the identification of a preclinical behavioural syndrome isomorphic to CD.
XXVIII SIE – Sessioni orali – Etologia applicata 64
Comparing problem-solving style in pet and long-term shelter dogs
CARLOTTA BURANI1,2,EMANUELA PRATO PREVIDE3,PAOLA VALSECCHI21 Università di Parma - Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia
2 Università di Parma - Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale 3 Università di Milano - Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia Medico-Chirurgica e dei Trapianti
carlotta.burani@studenti.unipr.it
The unsolvable task has traditionally been used to assess subjects’ communicative skills and social reliance towards people. However, recent findings on dogs have shown that differences in animals’ behavioural response to this task are also ascribable to their motivation and persistence. We aimed to evaluate effects of life-conditions on dogs’ behaviour. The protocol consisted of three consecutive solvable trials in which dogs could obtain food by manipulating a container, followed by an unsolvable trial. Test room was unknow for all dogs. Results revealed differences in problem-solving style between long-term shelter dogs (N=47) and pets (N=46). During the unsolvable trial pets were as persistent as shelter dogs in trying to open the container but they gazed significantly more at people than shelter dogs, in particular towards the researcher who manipulated the food and was unknown to all dogs; this suggests that pets persistently gazed at the researcher probably because they were seeking help in retrieving the treat, whereas shelter dogs did it less often possibly because they are not used to be helped by humans. Moreover, shelter dogs spent significantly more time exploring the testing room than pets: they could be more interested than pets in a new environment given that they spend most of their day alone in a barren kennel. The effects of age and of time of permanence in shelter on problem-solving abilities will be discussed.
XXVIII SIE – Sessioni orali – Etologia applicata 65
How behaviour helps to control invasive alien crayfish
ELENA TRICARICO1,LAURA AQUILONI1,ALBERTO FRANCESCO INGHILESI1,GIUSEPPE MAZZA1,2
1 Università di Firenze - Dipartimento di Biologia 2 CREA-DC - Centro di ricerca, difesa e certificazione, Firenze
elena.tricarico@unifi.it
Behaviour can be considered the key factor for improving knowledge on invasive alien species and their interactions with native species, in order to develop effective management methods for controlling them. Introduced crayfish have been the subject of much research to understand their behaviour and their impacts, leading to innovations and to the successful application of new control techniques in conservation actions. The Louisiana red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii, one of the most widespread introduced species worldwide and highly invasive in European fresh waters, provides a powerful illustration. The numerous studies conducted to assess its sexual selection, mating strategies, aggression, anti-predator and predatory behaviour were crucial for selecting appropriate techniques for the control of its invasive populations. For example, sexual selection was particularly useful in testing and calibrating the Sterile Males Release Technique (SMRT). This requires a polygynous system and few monopolizing dominant males; behavioural studies showed that large males of P. clarkii are dominant in intrasexual fights and are selected by females, thus enabling the use of SMRT in the field. Moreover, an integrated management approach (e.g. coupling intensive trapping and SMRT or intensive trapping and native predators) is usually recommended for red swamp crayfish. Again, behavioural studies lie behind this approach as it is known from laboratory and field observations that adult crayfish are more vagile and tend to be trapped, while juveniles are more trap-shy but they are the preferred size preyed on by fish and aquatic birds. Both these examples are outstanding proofs of the need to integrate behaviour and conservation biology in order to find the best management solutions for invasive species and thereby protect native species and ecosystems.
XXVIII SIE – Sessioni orali – Etologia applicata 66