Publications by authors named "S Bouret"
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates how ecology and social factors influence cognitive skills in primates by examining the size of specific brain regions related to metacognition and working memory in 16 primate species.
- - Researchers found the volume of the frontal pole (FP) and dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is significantly related to body size, daily travel distance, and population density, indicating both ecological and social constraints play a role in cognitive evolution.
- - The results suggest that ecological factors primarily drive brain region size, while social factors more strongly affect the FP, highlighting the importance of foraging and social interactions in the cognitive development of primates.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the role of intestinal gluconeogenesis (IGN) in regulating energy balance and the development of feeding circuits in the hypothalamus, particularly during the neonatal period.
- Researchers induced IGN in newborn mice by overexpressing the enzyme G6pc1 and studied the impact on hypothalamic feeding circuit development and sympathetic innervation of adipose tissues.
- Results showed that inducing IGN at birth led to changes in key hypothalamic circuits and better protection against metabolic issues from a high-fat diet, while later induction had no effect on these parameters.
Commun Psychol
March 2024
Article Synopsis
- The brain manages mental effort during difficult decisions by balancing cognitive resources used against the expected costs and benefits of those decisions.
- A proposed computational model called online metacognitive control of decisions (oMCD) represents this resource allocation problem as a Markov Decision Process, allowing for optimal decision-making strategies.
- oMCD effectively explains key aspects of decision-making like choice, confidence, and response time, while aligning with existing research on value-based decision-making and related neurocognitive theories.
Article Synopsis
- The arcuate nucleus (ARH) in the hypothalamus is crucial for energy balance, as it detects metabolic hormones in the blood, but only a few neurons in this area can sense these signals due to a barrier involving the median eminence (ME).
- The study found that the proteoglycan aggrecan, produced by certain ARH neurons, establishes a diffusion gradient that limits the entry of these metabolic signals into the ARH, particularly during fasting when more aggrecan is deposited.
- Disrupting aggrecan deposits allows more blood-borne molecules to enter the ARH, leading to uncontrolled food intake, highlighting the importance of this diffusion barrier in the brain's metabolism regulation.
Article Synopsis
- - The rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes is notably affecting pregnant women, leading to increased use of low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) to reduce calorie intake while still providing sweetness.
- - Research using a mouse model showed that male offspring from mothers consuming LCSs developed high body fat and glucose intolerance, with significant changes in brain circuits and pancreatic function.
- - A metabolite called phenylacetylglycine (PAG) was found to be elevated in the milk of LCS-fed mothers and their offspring, suggesting it may play a role in the negative metabolic and neurodevelopmental effects observed from maternal LCS consumption.
