The imposition of, but not the propensity for, social subordination impairs exploratory behaviors and general cognitive abilities.

Imposed social subordination, such as that which accompanies physical defeat or alienation, has been associated with impaired cognitive function in both human and non-human animals. Here we examined whether domain-specific and/or domain-general learning abilities (c.f.

Covariation of learning and "reasoning" abilities in mice: evolutionary conservation of the operations of intelligence.

Contemporary descriptions of human intelligence hold that this trait influences a broad range of cognitive abilities, including learning, attention, and reasoning. Like humans, individual genetically heterogeneous mice express a "general" cognitive trait that influences performance across a diverse array of learning and attentional tasks, and it has been suggested that this trait is qualitatively and structurally analogous to general intelligence in humans. However, the hallmark of human intelligence is the ability to use various forms of "reasoning" to support solutions to novel problems.

Longitudinal attentional engagement rescues mice from age-related cognitive declines and cognitive inflexibility.

Learning, attentional, and perseverative deficits are characteristic of cognitive aging. In this study, genetically diverse CD-1 mice underwent longitudinal training in a task asserted to tax working memory capacity and its dependence on selective attention. Beginning at 3 mo of age, animals were trained for 12 d to perform in a dual radial-arm maze task that required the mice to remember and operate on two sets of overlapping guidance (spatial) cues.

Working memory training promotes general cognitive abilities in genetically heterogeneous mice.

In both humans and mice, the efficacy of working memory capacity and its related process, selective attention, are each strongly predictive of individuals' aggregate performance in cognitive test batteries [1-9]. Because working memory is taxed during most cognitive tasks, the efficacy of working memory may have a causal influence on individuals' performance on tests of "intelligence" [10, 11]. Despite the attention this has received, supporting evidence has been largely correlational in nature (but see [12]).