Abstract

Introduction

Materials & Methods

Results

Discussion & Conclusion

References

Discussion
Board

A functional analysis of behavioral sequences, recorded on 10 laboratory mice for 12 hrs under day and night conditions, established the existence of two independent strategies of action selection. The first concerns the ultradian alternations of rest and activity bouts and makes it possible, for all the mice, to maximize their net energy gain. The second concerns the succession of acts performed within the activity bouts and might serve to precisely fit the metabolic needs of each animal, because the corresponding results present a great inter-individual variability, leading some mice to increase, but some others to decrease, their net energy gain. To determine what kind of dynamics supports the second strategy of action selection, we performed a nonlinear time series analysis of the energy costs related to the acts displayed by the mice in their activity bouts. The results suggest that the time series are not generated by a linear stochastic process and that chaotic dynamics might be involved in this action selection. Thus, the variability mentioned above could be a consequence of a sensitive dependence on initial conditions associated with such a process, allowing mice to rapidly adapt their metabolic needs to the ongoing situation.

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Presentation Number SAguillot0208
Keywords: Action selection, mouse, chaotic dynamics