科研人員通過腦成像研究發(fā)現(xiàn)了烏鴉的記憶人臉能力背后的神經(jīng)回路,。John Marzluff及其同事此前證明了烏鴉擁有記住威脅性的或者中性的人的臉的不尋常能力，但是此前尚不清楚這種能力的神經(jīng)基礎(chǔ),。使用一種稱為FDG-PET的腦成像技術(shù)——它測量經(jīng)過標(biāo)記的葡萄糖的吸收量,，作為大腦活動的替代指標(biāo)——這組作者報告說,，當(dāng)烏鴉看到此前在威脅性或關(guān)懷性環(huán)境下遇到的人臉的時候，大腦的不同區(qū)域會激活,。由于烏鴉認為捕捉它們的人的臉是危險的,，這組作者佩戴了面罩并且捕捉了12只成年雄性美洲烏鴉，并把它們養(yǎng)在籠子里4周時間,，其間這些烏鴉由佩戴另一種面具的研究人員喂養(yǎng),，這意味著這些面具與提供照顧有聯(lián)系。在這些烏鴉的俘獲期的最后,，這組作者對這些鳥類覺醒的大腦對這兩種面具的響應(yīng)進行了成像：看到捕捉它們的人的面具激活了這些烏鴉大腦中的與恐懼有關(guān)聯(lián)的區(qū)域,，而提供照顧的人佩戴的面具觸發(fā)了與聯(lián)想學(xué)習(xí)、動機和饑餓有關(guān)的區(qū)域,。這組作者說,，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)提示烏鴉能識別人臉,，并把視覺線索與期望和情緒整合起來從而改變行為。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1073/pnas.1206109109
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Brain imaging reveals neuronal circuitry underlying the crow’s perception of human faces
John M. Marzluff, Robert Miyaoka, Satoshi Minoshima and Donna J. Cross
Crows pay close attention to people and can remember specific faces for several years after a single encounter. In mammals, including humans, faces are evaluated by an integrated neural system involving the sensory cortex, limbic system, and striatum. Here we test the hypothesis that birds use a similar system by providing an imaging analysis of an awake, wild animal’ s brain as it performs an adaptive, complex cognitive task. We show that in vivo imaging of crow brain activity during exposure to familiar human faces previously associated with either capture (threatening) or caretaking (caring) activated several brain regions that allow birds to discriminate, associate, and remember visual stimuli, includ-ing the rostral hyperpallium, nidopallium, mesopallium, and lateral striatum. Perception of threatening faces activated circuitry includ-ing amygdalar, thalamic, and brainstem regions, known in humans and other vertebrates to be related to emotion, motivation, and conditioned fear learning. In contrast, perception of caring faces activated motivation and striatal regions. In our experiments and in nature, when perceiving a threatening face, crows froze and fixed their gaze (decreased blink rate), which was associated with activa-tion of brain regions known in birds to regulate perception, atten-tion, fear, and escape behavior. These findings indicate that, similar to humans, crows use sophisticated visual sensory systems to rec-ognize faces and modulate behavioral responses by integrating vi-sual information with expectation and emotion. Our approach has wide applicability and potential to improve our understanding of the neural basis for animal behavior.
