Target consolidation under high temporal processing demands as revealed by MEG

We investigated the nature of resource limitations during visual target processing by imposing high temporal processing demands on the cognitive system. This was achieved by embedding target stimuli into rapid-serial-visual-presentation-streams (RSVP). In RSVP streams, it is difficult to report the second of two targets (T2) if the second follows the first (T1) within 500 ms. This effect is known as the attentional blink (AB). For the AB to occur, it is essential that T1 is followed by a mask, as without such a stimulus, the AB is significantly attenuated. Usually, it is thought that T1 processing is delayed by the mask, which in turn delays T2 processing, increasing the likelihood for T2 failures (AB). Predictions regarding amplitudes and latencies of cortical responses (M300, the magnetic counterpart to the P300) to targets were tested by investigating the neurophysiological effects of the post-T1 item (mask) by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG). Cortical M300 responses to targets drawn from prefrontal sources – areas associated with working memory – revealed accelerated T1 yet delayed T2 processing with an intervening mask. The explanation we are proposing assumes that “protection” of ongoing T1 processing necessitated by the occurrence of the mask suppresses other activation patterns, which boosts T1 yet also hinders further processing. Our data shed light on the mechanisms employed by the human brain for ensuring visual target processing under high temporal processing demands, which is hypothesized to occur at the expense of subsequently presented information.

Cortical mechanisms of attention in time:neural correlates of the Lag-1-sparing phenomenon

If humans monitor streams of rapidly presented (approximately 100-ms intervals) visual stimuli, which are typically specific single letters of the alphabet, for two targets (T1 and T2), they often miss T2 if it follows T1 within an interval of 200-500 ms. If T2 follows T1 directly (within 100 ms; described as occurring at 'Lag 1'), however, performance is often excellent: the so-called 'Lag-1 sparing' phenomenon. Lag-1 sparing might result from the integration of the two targets into the same 'event representation', which fits with the observation that sparing is often accompanied by a loss of T1-T2 order information. Alternatively, this might point to competition between the two targets (implying a trade-off between performance on T1 and T2) and Lag-1 sparing might solely emerge from conditional data analysis (i.e. T2 performance given T1 correct). We investigated the neural correlates of Lag-1 sparing by carrying out magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings during an attentional blink (AB) task, by presenting two targets with a temporal lag of either 1 or 2 and, in the case of Lag 2, with a nontarget or a blank intervening between T1 and T2. In contrast to Lag 2, where two distinct neural responses were observed, at Lag 1 the two targets produced one common neural response in the left temporo-parieto-frontal (TPF) area but not in the right TPF or prefrontal areas. We discuss the implications of this result with respect to competition and integration hypotheses, and with respect to the different functional roles of the cortical areas considered. We suggest that more than one target can be identified in parallel in left TPF, at least in the absence of intervening nontarget information (i.e. masks), yet identified targets are processed and consolidated as two separate events by other cortical areas (right TPF and PFC, respectively).

The effect of contact lens wear on dynamic ocular surface temperature

Aim: To determine the dynamic emitted temperature changes of the anterior eye during and immediately after wearing different materials and modalities of soft contact lenses. Method: A dynamic, non-contact infrared camera (Thermo-Tracer TH7102MX, NEC San-ei) was used to record the ocular surface temperature (OST) in 48 subjects (mean age 21.7 ± 1.9 years) wearing: lotrafilcon-A contact lenses on a daily wear (LDW; n = 8) or continuous wear (LCW; n = 8) basis; balafilcon-A contact lenses on a daily wear (BDW; n = 8) or continuous wear (BCW; n = 8) basis; etafilcon-A contact lenses on a daily disposable regimen (EDW; n = 8); and no lenses (controls; n = 8). OST was measured continuously five times, for 8 s after a blink, following a minimum of 2 h wear and immediately following lens removal. Absolute temperature, changes in temperature post-blink and the dynamics of temperature changes were calculated. Results: OST immediately following contact lens wear was significantly greater compared to non-lens wearers (37.1 ± 1.7 °C versus 35.0 ± 1.1 °C; p < 0.005), predominantly in the LCW group (38.6 ± 1.0 °C; p < 0.0001). Lens surface temperature was highly correlated (r = 0.97) to, but lower than OST (by -0.62 ± 0.3 °C). There was no difference with modality of wear (DW 37.5 ± 1.6 °C versus CW 37.8 ± 1.9 °C; p = 0.63), but significant differences were found between etafilcon A and silicone hydrogel lens materials (35.3 ± 1.1 °C versus 37.5 ± 1.5 °C; p < 0.0005). Ocular surface cooling following a blink was not significantly affected by contact lens wear with (p = 0.07) or without (p = 0.47) lenses in situ. Conclusions: Ocular surface temperature is greater with hydrogel and greater still with silicone hydrogel contact lenses in situ, regardless of modality of wear. The effect is likely to be due to the thermal transmission properties of a contact lens. © 2004 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modulation of long-range neural synchrony reflects temporal limitations of visual attention in humans

Because of attentional limitations, the human visual system can process for awareness and response only a fraction of the input received. Lesion and functional imaging studies have identified frontal, temporal, and parietal areas as playing a major role in the attentional control of visual processing, but very little is known about how these areas interact to form a dynamic attentional network. We hypothesized that the network communicates by means of neural phase synchronization, and we used magnetoencephalography to study transient long-range interarea phase coupling in a well studied attentionally taxing dual-target task (attentional blink). Our results reveal that communication within the fronto-parieto-temporal attentional network proceeds via transient long-range phase synchronization in the beta band. Changes in synchronization reflect changes in the attentional demands of the task and are directly related to behavioral performance. Thus, we show how attentional limitations arise from the way in which the subsystems of the attentional network interact. The human brain faces an inestimable task of reducing a potentially overloading amount of input into a manageable flow of information that reflects both the current needs of the organism and the external demands placed on it. This task is accomplished via a ubiquitous construct known as “attention,” whose mechanism, although well characterized behaviorally, is far from understood at the neurophysiological level. Whereas attempts to identify particular neural structures involved in the operation of attention have met with considerable success (1-5) and have resulted in the identification of frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, far less is known about the interaction among these structures in a way that can account for the task-dependent successes and failures of attention. The goal of the present research was, thus, to unravel the means by which the subsystems making up the human attentional network communicate and to relate the temporal dynamics of their communication to observed attentional limitations in humans. A prime candidate for communication among distributed systems in the human brain is neural synchronization (for review, see ref. 6). Indeed, a number of studies provide converging evidence that long-range interarea communication is related to synchronized oscillatory activity (refs. 7-14; for review, see ref. 15). To determine whether neural synchronization plays a role in attentional control, we placed humans in an attentionally demanding task and used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to track interarea communication by means of neural synchronization. In particular, we presented 10 healthy subjects with two visual target letters embedded in streams of 13 distractor letters, appearing at a rate of seven per second. The targets were separated in time by a single distractor. This condition leads to the “attentional blink” (AB), a well studied dual-task phenomenon showing the reduced ability to report the second of two targets when an interval <500 ms separates them (16-18). Importantly, the AB does not prevent perceptual processing of missed target stimuli but only their conscious report (19), demonstrating the attentional nature of this effect and making it a good candidate for the purpose of our investigation. Although numerous studies have investigated factors, e.g., stimulus and timing parameters, that manipulate the magnitude of a particular AB outcome, few have sought to characterize the neural state under which “standard” AB parameters produce an inability to report the second target on some trials but not others. We hypothesized that the different attentional states leading to different behavioral outcomes (second target reported correctly or not) are characterized by specific patterns of transient long-range synchronization between brain areas involved in target processing. Showing the hypothesized correspondence between states of neural synchronization and human behavior in an attentional task entails two demonstrations. First, it needs to be demonstrated that cortical areas that are suspected to be involved in visual-attention tasks, and the AB in particular, interact by means of neural synchronization. This demonstration is particularly important because previous brain-imaging studies (e.g., ref. 5) only showed that the respective areas are active within a rather large time window in the same task and not that they are concurrently active and actually create an interactive network. Second, it needs to be demonstrated that the pattern of neural synchronization is sensitive to the behavioral outcome; specifically, the ability to correctly identify the second of two rapidly succeeding visual targets

The influence of end of day silicone hydrogel daily disposable contact lens fit on ocular comfort, physiology and lens wettability

Purpose: To quantify the end-of-day silicone-hydrogel daily disposable contact lens fit and its influence of on ocular comfort, physiology and lens wettability. Methods: Thirty-nine subjects (22.1. ±. 3.5 years) were randomised to wear each of 3 silicone-hydrogel daily-disposable contact lenses (narafilcon A, delefilcon A and filcon II 3), bilaterally, for one week. Lens fit was assessed objectively using a digital video slit-lamp at 8, 12 and 16. h after lens insertion. Hyperaemia, non-invasive tear break-up time, tear meniscus height and comfort were also evaluated at these timepoints, while corneal and conjunctival staining were assessed on lens removal. Results: Lens fit assessments were not different between brands (P > 0.05), with the exception of the movement at blink where narafilcon A was more mobile. Overall, lag reduced but push-up speed increased from 8 to 12. h (P <. 0.05), but remained stable from 12 to 16. h (P > 0.05). Movement-on-blink was unaffected by wear-time (F = 0.403, P = 0.670). A more mobile lens fit with one brand did not indicate that person would have a more mobile fit with another brand (r = -0.06 to 0.63). Lens fit was not correlated with comfort, ocular physiology or lens wettability (P > 0.01). Conclusions: Among the lenses tested, objective lens fit changed between 8. h and 12. h of lens wear. The weak correlation in individual lens fit between brands indicates that fit is dependent on more than ocular shape. Consequently, substitution of a different lens brand with similar parameters will not necessarily provide comparable lens fit.

Objective analysis of contact lens fit

Purpose: To assess the validity and repeatability of objective compared to subjective contact lens fit analysis. Methods: Thirty-five subjects (aged 22.0. ±. 3.0 years) wore two different soft contact lens designs. Four lens fit variables: centration, horizontal lag, post-blink movement in up-gaze and push-up recovery speed were assessed subjectively (four observers) and objectively from slit-lamp biomicroscopy captured images and video. The analysis was repeated a week later. Results: The average of the four experienced observers was compared to objective measures, but centration, movement on blink, lag and push-up recovery speed all varied significantly between them (p <. 0.001). Horizontal lens centration was on average close to central as assessed both objectively and subjectively (p > 0.05). The 95% confidence interval of subjective repeatability was better than objective assessment (±0.128. mm versus ±0.168. mm, p = 0.417), but utilised only 78% of the objective range. Vertical centration assessed objectively showed a slight inferior decentration (0.371. ±. 0.381. mm) with good inter- and intrasession repeatability (p > 0.05). Movement-on-blink was lower estimated subjectively than measured objectively (0.269. ±. 0.179. mm versus 0.352. ±. 0.355. mm; p = 0.035), but had better repeatability (±0.124. mm versus ±0.314. mm 95% confidence interval) unless correcting for the smaller range (47%). Horizontal lag was lower estimated subjectively (0.562. ±. 0.259. mm) than measured objectively (0.708. ±. 0.374. mm, p <. 0.001), had poorer repeatability (±0.132. mm versus ±0.089. mm 95% confidence interval) and had a smaller range (63%). Subjective categorisation of push-up speed of recovery showed reasonable differentiation relative to objective measurement (p <. 0.001). Conclusions: The objective image analysis allows an accurate, reliable and repeatable assessment of soft contact lens fit characteristics, being a useful tool for research and optimisation of lens fit in clinical practice.

Structural design of contact lens-based drug delivery systems; in vitro and in vivo studies of ocular triggering mechanisms

This study identifies and investigates the potential use of in-eye trigger mechanisms to supplement the widely available information on release of ophthalmic drugs from contact lenses under passive release conditions. Ophthalmic dyes and surrogates have been successfully employed to investigate how these factors can be drawn together to make a successful system. The storage of a drug-containing lens in a pH lower than that of the ocular environment can be used to establish an equilibrium that favours retention of the drug in the lens prior to ocular insertion. Although release under passive conditions does not result in complete dye elution, the use of mechanical agitation techniques which mimic the eyelid blink action in conjunction with ocular tear chemistry promotes further release. In this way differentiation between passive and triggered in vitro release characteristics can be established. Investigation of the role of individual tear proteins revealed significant differences in their ability to alter the equilibrium between matrix-held and eluate-held dye or drug. These individual experiments were then investigated in vivo using ophthalmic dyes. Complete elution was found to be achievable in-eye; this demonstrated the importance of that fraction of the drug retained under passive conditions and the triggering effect of in-eye conditions on the release process. Understanding both the structure-property relationship between drug and material and in-eye trigger mechanisms, using ophthalmic dyes as a surrogate, provides the basis of knowledge necessary to design ocular drug delivery vehicles for in-eye release in a controllable manner.

How should initial fit inform soft contact lens prescribing

Purpose: To investigate how initial HEMA and silicone-hydrogel (SiHy) contact lens fit on insertion, which informs prescribing decisions, reflect end of day fit. Methods: Thirty participants (aged 22.9. ±. 4.9 years) were fitted contralaterally with HEMA and SiHy contact lenses. Corneal topography and tear break-up time were assessed pre-lens wear. Centration, lag, post-blink movement during up-gaze and push-up recovery speed were recorded after 5,10,20. min and 8. h of contact lens wear by a digital slit-lamp biomicroscope camera, along with reported comfort. Lens fit metrics were analysed using bespoke software. Results: Comfort and centration were similar with the HEMA and SiHy lenses (p > 0.05), but comfort decreased with time (p <. 0.01) whereas centration remained stable (F = 0.036, p = 0.991). Movement-on-blink and lag were greater with the HEMA than the SiHy lens (p <. 0.01), but movement-on-blink decreased with time after insertion (F = 22.423, p <. 0.001) whereas lag remained stable (F = 1.967, p = 0.129). Push-up recovery speed was similar with the HEMA and the SiHy lens 5-20. min after insertion (p > 0.05), but was slower with SiHy after 8. h wear (p = 0.016). Lens movement on blink and push-up recovery speed was predictive of the movement after 8. h of wear after 10-20. min SiHy wear, but after 5 to 20. min of HEMA lens wear. Conclusions: A HEMA or SiHy contact lens with poor movement on blink/push-up after at least 10. min after insertion should be rejected.

Dissociation of detection and evaluation of facial expressions in adolescence

Holistic face perception, i.e. the mandatory integration of featural information across the face, hasbeen considered to play a key role when recognizing emotional face expressions (e.g., Tanaka et al.,2002). However, despite their early onset holistic processing skills continue to improvethroughout adolescence (e.g., Schwarzer et al., 2010) and therefore might modulate theevaluation of facial expressions. We tested this hypothesis using an attentional blink (AB)paradigm to compare the impact of happy, fearful and neutral faces in adolescents (10–13 years)and adults on subsequently presented neutral target stimuli (animals, plants and objects) in a rapidserial visual presentation stream. Adolescents and adults were found to be equally reliable whenreporting the emotional expression of the face stimuli. However, the detection of emotional butnot neutral faces imposed a significantly stronger AB effect on the detection of the neutral targetsin adults compared to adolescents. In a control experiment we confirmed that adolescents ratedemotional faces lower in terms of valence and arousal than adults. The results suggest a protracteddevelopment of the ability to evaluate facial expressions that might be attributed to the latematuration of holistic processing skills.

Contingency, contiguity, and development: The ontogeny of contingency learning in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) chicks

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ontogeny of auditory learning via operant contingency in Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ) hatchlings and possible interaction between attention, orienting and learning during early development. Chicks received individual 5 min training sessions in which they received a playback of a bobwhite maternal call at a single delay following each vocalization they emitted. Playback was either from a single randomly chosen speaker or switched back and forth semi-randomly between two speakers during training. Chicks were tested 24 hrs later in a simultaneous choice test between the familiar and an unfamiliar maternal call. It was found that day-old chicks showed a significant time-specific decrement in auditory learning when trained with delays in the range of 470–910 ms between their vocalizations and call playback only when training involved two speakers. Two-day-old birds showed an even more sustained disruption of learning than day-old chicks, whereas three-day-old chicks showed a pattern of intermittent interference with their learning when trained at such delays. A similar but less severe decrement in auditory learning was found when chicks were provided with motor training in which playback was contingent upon chicks entering and exiting one of two colored squares placed on the floor of the arena. Chicks provided with playback of the call at randomly chosen delays each time they vocalized exhibited large fluctuations in their responsivity to the auditory stimulus as a function of delay—fluctuations which were correlated significantly with measures of chick learning, particularly at two-days-of-age. When playback was limited to a single location chicks no longer showed a time-specific disruption of their learning of the auditory stimulus. Sequential analyses revealed several patterns suggesting that an attentional process similar or analogous to attentional blink may have contributed both to the observed fluctuations in chick responsivity to the auditory stimulus as a function of delay and to the time-specific learning deficit shown by chicks provided with two-speaker training. The study highlights that learning can be substantially modulated by processes of orienting and attention and has a number of important implications for research within cognitive neuroscience, animal behavior and learning.

Gravidade do olho seco em pacientes internados em unidade de terapia intensiva: análise de conceito e construção de definições

Dry eye syndrome is a multifactorial disease of the tear film, resulting from the instability of the lacrimal functional unit that produces volume change, up or tear distribution. In patients in intensive care the cause is enhanced due to various risk factors, such as mechanical ventilation, sedation, lagophthalmos, low temperatures, among others. The study's purpose is to build an assessment tool of Dry Eye Severity in patients in intensive care units based on the systematization of nursing care and their classification systems. The aim of this study is to build an assessment tool of Dry Eye Severity in hospitalized patients in Care Unit Intensiva.Trata is a methodological study conducted in three stages, namely: context analysis, concept analysis, construction of operational definitions and magnitudes of nursing outcome. For the first step we used the methodological framework for Hinds, Chaves and Cypress (1992). For the second step we used the model of Walker and Avant and an integrative review Whitemore seconds, Knalf (2005). This step enabled the identification of the concept of attributes, background and consequent ground and the construction of the settings for the result of nursing severity of dry eye. For the construction of settings and operational magnitudes, it was used Psicometria proposed by Pasquali (1999). As a result of context analysis, visualized from the reflection that the matter should be discussed and that nursing needs to pay attention to the problem of eye injury, so minimizing strategies are created this event with a high prevalence. With the integrative review were located from the crosses 19 853 titles, selected 215, and from the abstracts 96 articles were read in full. From reading 10 were excluded culminating in the sample of 86 articles that were used to analyze the concept and construction of settings. Selected articles were found in greater numbers in the Scopus database (55.82%), performed in the United States (39.53%), and published mainly in the last five years (48.82). Regarding the concept of analysis were identified as antecedents: age, lagophthalmos, environmental factors, medication use, systemic diseases, mechanical ventilation and ophthalmic surgery. As attributes: TBUT <10s, Schimer I test <5 mm in Schimer II test <10mm, reduced osmolarity. As consequential: the ocular surface damage, ocular discomfort, visual instability. The settings were built and added indicators such as: decreased blink mechanism and eyestrain.

Grabbing Your Attention: The Impact of Finding a First Target in Multiple-Target Search

For over 50 years, the Satisfaction of Search effect, and more recently known as the Subsequent Search Miss (SSM) effect, has plagued the field of radiology. Defined as a decrease in additional target accuracy after detecting a prior target in a visual search, SSM errors are known to underlie both real-world search errors (e.g., a radiologist is more likely to miss a tumor if a different tumor was previously detected) and more simplified, lab-based search errors (e.g., an observer is more likely to miss a target ‘T’ if a different target ‘T’ was previously detected). Unfortunately, little was known about this phenomenon’s cognitive underpinnings and SSM errors have proven difficult to eliminate. However, more recently, experimental research has provided evidence for three different theories of SSM errors: the Satisfaction account, the Perceptual Set account, and the Resource Depletion account. A series of studies examined performance in a multiple-target visual search and aimed to provide support for the Resource Depletion account—a first target consumes cognitive resources leaving less available to process additional targets.

To assess a potential mechanism underlying SSM errors, eye movements were recorded in a multiple-target visual search and were used to explore whether a first target may result in an immediate decrease in second-target accuracy, which is known as an attentional blink. To determine whether other known attentional distractions amplified the effects of finding a first target has on second-target detection, distractors within the immediate vicinity of the targets (i.e., clutter) were measured and compared to accuracy for a second target. To better understand which characteristics of attention were impacted by detecting a first target, individual differences within four characteristics of attention were compared to second-target misses in a multiple-target visual search.

The results demonstrated that an attentional blink underlies SSM errors with a decrease in second-target accuracy from 135ms-405ms after detection or re-fixating a first target. The effects of clutter were exacerbated after finding a first target causing a greater decrease in second-target accuracy as clutter increased around a second-target. The attentional characteristics of modulation and vigilance were correlated with second- target misses and suggest that worse attentional modulation and vigilance are predictive of more second-target misses. Taken together, these result are used as the foundation to support a new theory of SSM errors, the Flux Capacitor theory. The Flux Capacitor theory predicts that once a target is found, it is maintained as an attentional template in working memory, which consumes attentional resources that could otherwise be used to detect additional targets. This theory not only proposes why attentional resources are consumed by a first target, but encompasses the research in support of all three SSM theories in an effort to establish a grand, unified theory of SSM errors.

Developmental exposure to a complex PAH mixture causes persistent behavioral effects in naive Fundulus heteroclitus (killifish) but not in a population of PAH-adapted killifish.

Acute exposures to some individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and complex PAH mixtures are known to cause cardiac malformations and edema in the developing fish embryo. However, the heart is not the only organ impacted by developmental PAH exposure. The developing brain is also affected, resulting in lasting behavioral dysfunction. While acute exposures to some PAHs are teratogenically lethal in fish, little is known about the later life consequences of early life, lower dose subteratogenic PAH exposures. We sought to determine and characterize the long-term behavioral consequences of subteratogenic developmental PAH mixture exposure in both naive killifish and PAH-adapted killifish using sediment pore water derived from the Atlantic Wood Industries Superfund Site. Killifish offspring were embryonically treated with two low-level PAH mixture dilutions of Elizabeth River sediment extract (ERSE) (TPAH 5.04 μg/L and 50.4 μg/L) at 24h post fertilization. Following exposure, killifish were raised to larval, juvenile, and adult life stages and subjected to a series of behavioral tests including: a locomotor activity test (4 days post-hatch), a sensorimotor response tap/habituation test (3 months post hatch), and a novel tank diving and exploration test (3months post hatch). Killifish were also monitored for survival at 1, 2, and 5 months over 5-month rearing period. Developmental PAH exposure caused short-term as well as persistent behavioral impairments in naive killifish. In contrast, the PAH-adapted killifish did not show behavioral alterations following PAH exposure. PAH mixture exposure caused increased mortality in reference killifish over time; yet, the PAH-adapted killifish, while demonstrating long-term rearing mortality, had no significant changes in mortality associated with ERSE exposure. This study demonstrated that early embryonic exposure to PAH-contaminated sediment pore water caused long-term locomotor and behavioral alterations in killifish, and that locomotor alterations could be observed in early larval stages. Additionally, our study highlights the resistance to behavioral alterations caused by low-level PAH mixture exposure in the adapted killifish population. Furthermore, this is the first longitudinal behavioral study to use killifish, an environmentally important estuarine teleost fish, and this testing framework can be used for future contaminant assessment.

Child Safety Signal Learning in the Context of Parental Worry, Overprotection, PTSD, and Depression

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR IN GIANT DANIO

A fundamental problem in biology is understanding how and why things group together. Collective behavior is observed on all organismic levels - from cells and slime molds, to swarms of insects, flocks of birds, and schooling fish, and in mammals, including humans. The long-term goal of this research is to understand the functions and mechanisms underlying collective behavior in groups. This dissertation focuses on shoaling (aggregating) fish. Shoaling behaviors in fish confer foraging and anti-predator benefits through social cues from other individuals in the group. However, it is not fully understood what information individuals receive from one another or how this information is propagated throughout a group. It is also not fully understood how the environmental conditions and perturbations affect group behaviors. The specific research objective of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of how certain social and environmental factors affect group behaviors in fish. I focus on two ecologically relevant decision-making behaviors: (i) rheotaxis, or orientation with respect to a flow, and (ii) startle response, a rapid response to a perceived threat. By integrating behavioral and engineering paradigms, I detail specifics of behavior in giant danio Devario aequipinnatus (McClelland 1893), and numerically analyze mathematical models that may be extended to group behavior for fish in general, and potentially other groups of animals as well. These models that predict behavior data, as well as generate additional, testable hypotheses. One of the primary goals of neuroethology is to study an organism's behavior in the context of evolution and ecology. Here, I focus on studying ecologically relevant behaviors in giant danio in order to better understand collective behavior in fish. The experiments in this dissertation provide contributions to fish ecology, collective behavior, and biologically-inspired robotics.