Mus musculus mice self-organize existing behaviors into structured bouts as they become expert hunters.
Shettigar, N.; Zhang, L.-Q.; Teran, J.; Schuster, L.; Sohn, A.; Branson, K.; Dennis, E. J. · animal behavior and cognition · 2026-09-07 · 原文
DOI：10.64898/2026.09.02.748903作者：7 位
In the wild, a mouse must flexibly perform multiple computations at once, rapidly navigating, sampling its environment, forming and using memories, and balancing internal needs. Capturing the self-paced, low-repetition, complex nature of decision making in the wild while preserving the experimental control needed to interpret its process remains a challenge. Here we show that lab mice, without food restriction, learn to forage for hidden resources cued by ambiguous sounds in a dynamic environment by spatiotemporally reorganizing their existing behavioral repertoire. Using a novel closed-loop assay, we required mice to sit still to receive informative but hard-to-localize sound cues emanating from one correct location they must find, out of 157 possible locations in a large arena. With experience, mice become efficient hunters. Efficient hunting cannot be explained by an increase in a particular behavioral module, but instead, mice reorganize existing behaviors into clustered bouts of high-quality sampling and site-checking. Looking forward, this work establishes an approach for studying the neural, molecular, and evolutionary basis of naturalistic decision-making in mice.
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1. 人话版
In the wild, a mouse must flexibly perform multiple computations at once, rapidly navigating, sampling its environment, forming and using memories, and balancing internal needs.
Capturing the self-paced, low-repetition, complex nature of decision making in the wild while preserving the experimental control needed to interpret its process remains a challenge.
2. 领域脉络
本文类目：animal behavior and cognition，属于其所在研究脉络的最新进展。
3. 机制拆解
Here we show that lab mice, without food restriction, learn to forage for hidden resources cued by ambiguous sounds in a dynamic environment by spatiotemporally reorganizing their existing behavioral repertoire.
With experience, mice become efficient hunters.
4. 证据与数字
Using a novel closed-loop assay, we required mice to sit still to receive informative but hard-to-localize sound cues emanating from one correct location they must find, out of 157 possible locations in a large arena.
5. 反例与边界
Efficient hunting cannot be explained by an increase in a particular behavioral module, but instead, mice reorganize existing behaviors into clustered bouts of high-quality sampling and site-checking.
6. 跨领域连接与意外收获
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7. 可复用方法
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