Orienting responses (ORs) are whole-organism reflexes that are elicited by innocuous stimuli, and which decrease in magnitude after stimulus repetition. ORs represent relatively simple responses that can be used to study attentional processes, and are modulated by the organism’s state, including arousal and activation levels, as well as by emotional processes. Here we describe a simple method to study ORs in zebrafish, a model organism increasingly being used in behavioural neuroscience. After presentation of a static visual stimulus, an OR is elicited, characterized by approaching the stimulus and orienting towards it. After repeated stimulation, OR decreases, suggesting habituation. These responses are qualitatively altered by exposure to a fear-eliciting alarm substance (i.e., derived from the skin of a conspecific), since exposed animals avoid the visual stimulus and orient either away from the stimulus or towards it, but at a distance. The protocol can be used to study orienting responses, as well as the impact of fear and arousal on these reflexes.

中文翻译：

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研究斑马鱼定向反应的模型及其在情绪-认知互动中的应用。

定向反应（OR）是无害刺激引起的全生物反射，并且在重复刺激后强度会降低。OR代表相对简单的反应，可用于研究注意力过程，并受有机体状态（包括唤醒和激活水平以及情绪过程）的调节。在这里，我们描述了一种简单的方法来研究斑马鱼的OR，斑马鱼是一种越来越多地用于行为神经科学的模型生物。呈现静态视觉刺激后，会引发OR，其特征在于接近刺激并面向该刺激。反复刺激后，OR降低，表明它已经习惯了。通过暴露于引起恐惧的警报物质（即，源自特定物种的皮肤），这些反应会发生质的变化，因为裸露的动物会避免视觉刺激，并且会远离刺激或朝着刺激定向，但要保持一定距离。该协议可用于研究定向反应以及恐惧和唤醒对这些反射的影响。