Quantifying how much attention rodents allocate to motivationally-salient objects with a novel object preference test

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Animal Behavior
• Olfactory Processing

Background:

• Attention allocation is influenced by a stimulus's emotional value.
• Understanding how motivational salience modulates attention requires animal models.
• Female odor elicits arousal and emotional responses in male mice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the extent to which objects labeled with female odor modulate the attention of C57BL/6J male mice.
• To determine how motivational salience, specifically female odor, influences attention allocation in a controlled experimental setting.
• To explore the interplay between olfactory cues, object novelty, and spatial novelty in modulating attention.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a modified spontaneous Novel Object Recognition task with seven experiments.
• Operationalized attention as differential exploration time of identical objects.
• Objects were labeled with female mouse odor (O+), almond odor (O ^a ), no odor (O-), or were novel trial-unique objects (X-).

Main Results:

• Female-odor-labeled objects (O+) received preferential attention compared to odor-absent objects (O-), irrespective of location novelty.
• Female odor (O+) at a familiar location attracted more attention than almond odor (O ^a ) at a novel location.
• Exploration of female-odor-labeled objects (O+) was higher than novel objects (X-) only in a novel location; attention was equivalent in familiar locations.

Conclusions:

• C57BL/6J male mice integrate odor cues, object novelty, and spatial novelty to assess motivational salience.
• Female odor can elicit greater attention (object exploration) than other object properties in male mice.
• This study provides a foundation for using motivationally significant odors to modulate cognitive processes related to attention.