Dantzer R, Bluthe R M, LeMoal M
INRA-INSERM U259, Bordeaux, France.
Neurotoxicology. 1988 Fall;9(3):471-7.
Two important forms of cognition are knowledge about internal states and social cognition. Knowledge about internal states is dependent on the ability to discriminate between different classes of visceral sensations and to associate them specifically to distinctive cues. The phenomenon of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is the best example of this type of knowledge. Many chemicals induce interoceptive changes that can be perceived by animals and give rise not only to subjective sensations but also to causal attributions. However, the possibility that animals are able to discriminate different forms of interoceptive changes in a CTA paradigm has received little attention. Studies of the mechanisms of vasopressin-induced CTA provide evidence that it is the case and that animals are able to classify in different categories sensations related to the vasopressor activity of vasopressin and sensation induced by a prototypical aversive drug, apomorphine. Social cognition involves what individuals know about each other. One of the requirements for social cognition is social recognition, i.e., the ability to identify other individuals and classify them in different categories. Social recognition can be assessed by changes in duration of investigation of another animal when the stimulus animal is presented at different intervals. This form of memory is based on olfactory characteristics of the stimulus animal in rats and it can be enhanced or attenuated by memory-modulating drugs, as demonstrated by experiments with vasopressin.
两种重要的认知形式是关于内部状态的知识和社会认知。关于内部状态的知识依赖于区分不同类别的内脏感觉并将它们与特定线索进行具体关联的能力。条件性味觉厌恶（CTA）现象就是这类知识的最佳例证。许多化学物质会引发内感受性变化，动物能够察觉到这些变化，这些变化不仅会引发主观感受，还会导致因果归因。然而，在CTA范式中动物是否能够区分不同形式的内感受性变化这一可能性却很少受到关注。对血管加压素诱导的CTA机制的研究提供了证据，表明情况确实如此，并且动物能够将与血管加压素的升压活性相关的感觉以及由典型厌恶药物阿扑吗啡诱导的感觉分类到不同类别中。社会认知涉及个体对彼此的了解。社会认知的一个要求是社会识别，即识别其他个体并将它们分类到不同类别的能力。当以不同间隔呈现刺激动物时，可以通过对另一只动物的探究持续时间的变化来评估社会识别。在大鼠中，这种记忆形式基于刺激动物的嗅觉特征，并且如血管加压素实验所示，它可以被记忆调节药物增强或减弱。
