Biology subjects

Kaufmann, L. V.

Publications and source records attributed to Kaufmann, L. V..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Heightened Play following Play Observation in the Absence of 22KHz Calls in Juvenile Rats

Emotional contagion, the process leading to emotional state matching between individuals is considered a cornerstone for the proper functioning of social groups, via its contribution to group coordination and cohesion, the ability to learn from others and engage in prosocial behaviors. However, to date, most studies of emotional contagion investigate the transfer of negative emotional states thereby bypassing the neurobiology of positive affect sharing. In this study, we aimed to leverage on the innately rewarding and salient nature of play behaviour, to investigate the potential contagiousness of positive affective states in juvenile rats. Observers that had been moderately socially deprived for varying durations first witnessed highly-playful (Play) or non-playful (Control) demonstrator rats prior to being reunited and given the opportunity to freely interact. Surprisingly, we observed the emission of negatively-valenced 22 kHz calls in a subset of sessions which was also associated with heightened play behavior of the demonstrators. We found that the reunited observers showed an increase in play behavior following observation in the Play condition compared to the Control condition, but only after short social isolation and in sessions without 22 kHz calls. In addition, an overall higher number of positively-valenced 50 kHz calls were emitted in the Play condition, again in sessions without 22 kHz emissions. Despite the limitations of the experimental procedure, our results highlight the complex nature of positive emotional sharing and provide encouraging first indications of using social play observation to study positive emotional contagion. Highlights- Social deprivation positively modulates play behavior and USV emission in reunited juvenile rats - Heightened play is associated with 22 kHz USVs following social deprivation - Heightened play was observed following play observation in the absence of 22 kHz USVs - Play observation was associated with an overall increased number of 50 kHz calls emissions - Play observation as an encouraging approach to study positive emotional contagion in rat

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2023

A Myelin Map of Trunk Folds in the Elephant Trigeminal Nucleus

Elephants have elaborate trunk skills and large, but poorly understood brains. Here we study trunk representations in elephant trigeminal nuclei, which form large protrusions on the ventral brainstem. These ventral brainstem protrusions have previously been referred to as inferior olive, but a delineation of the olivo-cerebellar tract reveals these (trigeminal) nuclei are not connected to the cerebellum via climbing fibers. In contrast, the olivo-cerebellar tract connects to a large dorsolateral nucleus with a serrated cellular architecture, the putative elephant inferior olive. Dense vascularization and intense cytochrome-oxidase reactivity distinguish several elongated trigeminal putative trunk modules, which repeat in the anterior-posterior direction. We focus on the most anterior and largest of these units, the putative nucleus principalis trunk module. Module neuron density is low and non-neural cells outnumber neurons by [~]108:1. Dendritic trees are elongated along the axis of axon bundles (myelin stripes) transversing the trunk module. Synchrotron X-ray-phase-contrast tomography suggests myelin-stripe-axons transverse the trunk module. We show a remarkable correspondence of trunk module myelin stripes and trunk folds. Myelin stripes show little relation to trigeminal neurons and stripe-axons appear to often go nowhere; we suggest that myelin stripes might serve to separate trunk-fold domains rather than to connect neurons. Myelin-stripes-to-folds mapping allowed to determine neural magnification factors, which changed from 1000:1 proximally to 5:1 in the trunk finger. Asian elephants have fewer ([~]640,000) trunk-module neurons than Africans ([~]740,000) and show enlarged representations of trunk parts involved in object wrapping. The elephant trigeminal trunk module is exquisitely organized into trunk-fold-related units.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Tickle contagion in the somatosensory cortex

The cellular mechanisms of emotional contagion are unknown. We investigated tickle contagion and the underlying neuronal representations in rats. We recorded trunk somatosensory cortex activity of observer rats while they received tickling, audio-visual playback of tickling footage, and while they witnessed tickling of demonstrator rats. Observers vocalized, and showed "Freudensprunge" ("joy jumps") during witnessing live tickling, while they showed little behavioral responses to playbacks. A fraction of trunk somatosensory neurons responded to both direct and witnessed tickling in action-specific manner. The correlation between direct and witnessed tickling responses increased towards deeper cortical layers. Tickle-mirror neurons but not non-mirror neurons discharged prior to and during vocalizations and hence might drive contagious laughter. We conclude that trunk somatosensory cortex represents mirrored ticklishness.

neuroscience↗