Browsing by Author "Balci, Fuat"

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Mice Extrapolate Temporal Information Based on Previously Learned Spatiotemporal Mappings: An Asymmetrical Case
(Springer, 2026) Gur, Ezgi; Duyan, Yalcin A.; Toptas, Pinar; Balci, Fuat
One of the computational affordances of isomorphic magnitude representations is the extrapolation of temporal information based on previously experienced spatiotemporal pairings. We initially trained mice on the association of two intervals (10 s and 30 s) with two hoppers (H2 and H4, counterbalanced) in a five-choice nose-poke box with the following setup. One of the three novel hoppers (H1) neighbored H2 only, the other novel hopper (H5) neighbored H4 only, and the third novel hopper (H3) neighbored H2 and H4 (H1Novel -> H2Trained -> H3Novel -> H4Trained -> H5Novel). During test trials, one of the five hoppers was illuminated. We estimated the trial time at which the anticipatory response rate was maximal (peak time) separately for each hopper. Mice extrapolated temporal information only in a forward fashion; the peak time for H5 was longer than that for H4. Mice did not extrapolate temporal information backward; the timed response curves in H1 and H3 were closely similar to those in H2. Thus, our findings suggest that mice can extrapolate temporal information, but also indicate that the computations underlying this process are directionally constrained. We discuss the possible reasons behind asymmetrical extrapolation.
Citation - WoS: 3
Citation - Scopus: 3
Mice Make Temporal Inferences About Novel Locations Based on Previously Learned Spatiotemporal Contingencies
(Springer, 2022) Balci, Fuat; Gür, Ezgi; Duyan, Yalçin A.
Animals learn multiple spatiotemporal contingencies and organize their anticipatory responses accordingly. The representational/computational capacity that underlies such spatiotemporally guided behaviors is not fully understood. To this end, we investigated whether mice make temporal inferences of novel locations based on previously learned spatiotemporal contingencies. We trained 18 C57BL/6J mice to anticipate reward after three different intervals at three different locations and tested their temporal expectations of a reward at five locations simultaneously, including two locations that were not previously associated with reward delivery but adjacent to the previously trained locations. If mice made spatiotemporal inferences, they were expected to interpolate between duration pairs associated with previously reinforced hoppers surrounding the novel hopper. We found that the maximal response rate at the novel locations indeed fell between the two intervals reinforced at the surrounding hoppers. We argue that this pattern of responding might be underlain by spatially constrained Bayesian computations.