Wood R I
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8063, USA.
Horm Behav. 1997 Aug;32(1):40-5. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1997.1403.
Motivated social behaviors such as mating are controlled by a complex network of limbic nuclei. Concepts of network organization derived from computational neuroscience may aid our understanding of the links between the neuroanatomical circuitry and what is represented by the anatomy. Research in my laboratory uses mating behavior in the male Syrian hamster as a model to elucidate how chemosensory and steroid cues are integrated in the brain. An interaction of odors and hormones is required for mating in this species. These two essential stimuli are transmitted through separate parallel pathways in the limbic system. The functional organization of the hamster mating behavior circuit is characterized by distributed representation, divergent and convergent neural pathways, and recurrent feedback. Odors and hormones have different modes of action on this neural network. While chemosensory cues stimulate the input units of the network, steroids facilitate behavior through the hidden units. In this manner, steroids appear to create a permissive environment for subsequent activation by odor cues.
诸如交配等有动机的社会行为受边缘核复杂网络的控制。源自计算神经科学的网络组织概念可能有助于我们理解神经解剖回路与解剖结构所代表的内容之间的联系。我实验室的研究以雄性叙利亚仓鼠的交配行为为模型，以阐明化学感觉线索和类固醇线索是如何在大脑中整合的。在这个物种中，交配需要气味和激素的相互作用。这两种基本刺激通过边缘系统中 separate parallel pathways 进行传递。仓鼠交配行为回路的功能组织具有分布式表征、发散和汇聚神经通路以及循环反馈的特点。气味和激素对这个神经网络有不同的作用方式。化学感觉线索刺激网络的输入单元，而类固醇则通过隐藏单元促进行为。通过这种方式，类固醇似乎为随后被气味线索激活创造了一个允许的环境。
