Bidirectional cingulate-dependent danger information transfer across rats

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bidirectional cingulate-dependent danger information transfer across rats

AU - Han, Yingying

AU - Bruls, Rune

AU - Soyman, Efe

AU - Thomas, Rajat Mani

AU - Pentaraki, Vasiliki

AU - Jelinek, Naomi

AU - Heinemans, Mirjam

AU - Bassez, Iege

AU - Verschooren, Sam

AU - Pruis, Illanah

AU - Van Lierde, Thijs

AU - Carrillo, Nathaly

AU - Gazzola, Valeria

AU - Carrillo, Maria

AU - Keysers, Christian

PY - 2019/12

Y1 - 2019/12

N2 - Social transmission of freezing behavior has been conceived of as a one-way phenomenon in which an observer "catches" the fear of another. Here, we use a paradigm in which an observer rat witnesses another rat receiving electroshocks. Bayesian model comparison and Granger causality show that rats exchange information about danger in both directions: how the observer reacts to the demonstrator's distress also influences how the demonstrator responds to the danger. This was true to a similar extent across highly familiar and entirely unfamiliar rats but is stronger in animals preexposed to shocks. Injecting muscimol in the anterior cingulate of observers reduced freezing in the observers and in the demonstrators receiving the shocks. Using simulations, we support the notion that the coupling of freezing across rats could be selected for to more efficiently detect dangers in a group, in a way similar to cross-species eavesdropping.

AB - Social transmission of freezing behavior has been conceived of as a one-way phenomenon in which an observer "catches" the fear of another. Here, we use a paradigm in which an observer rat witnesses another rat receiving electroshocks. Bayesian model comparison and Granger causality show that rats exchange information about danger in both directions: how the observer reacts to the demonstrator's distress also influences how the demonstrator responds to the danger. This was true to a similar extent across highly familiar and entirely unfamiliar rats but is stronger in animals preexposed to shocks. Injecting muscimol in the anterior cingulate of observers reduced freezing in the observers and in the demonstrators receiving the shocks. Using simulations, we support the notion that the coupling of freezing across rats could be selected for to more efficiently detect dangers in a group, in a way similar to cross-species eavesdropping.

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000524

DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000524

M3 - Article

C2 - 31805039

SN - 1544-9173

VL - 17

SP - e3000524

JO - PLoS Biology

JF - PLoS Biology

IS - 12

ER -