On the Future of the NeuroBehavior Ontology and Its Relation to the Mental Functioning

Ontology

Barry Smithhttp://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith

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The Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) Foundry

(draft, with Gene Ontology marked in yellow)

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orthogonal modules to ensure consistent, additive annotation

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Behavior Ontology

(NBO)

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NBO homesteads a portion of the biological process domain

OBO Foundry principles

• always annotate to the lowest term – if you don’t know whether a movement is voluntary or involuntary ,

just annotate to ‘movement’• every term in an ontology should be a singular noun (traffic law)• exploit the strategy of downward population (feeding behavior

…)• build orthogonal modules• build modules in collaboration with the authors of neighboring

modules• work very hard to have clear definitions of the top-level terms,

including– work very hard to have a clearly defined scope

with thanks to George Gkoutos and Robert Hoehndorf

• gait = a type of walking behavior• amimia = impairment of the power of

communicating thought by gestures• intellectual disability = IQ < 70• hyperactivity = body is too active• aggression = engaging in actions that can harm• epilepsy = a disease

Mental Functioning vs Behavior

• The first person experiences which form the object of MF are not observable

• Behavior is something physical and thus observable

• Study of behavior is analogous to study of physiology

Behavior in NBO

Behavior ProcessDefinition: The action, reaction, or performance of an organism in response to external or internal stimuli.

What is a stimulus?

• An event that is of a type that can be detected by a receptor in the body of some organism

• A thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue

• Something that can elicit or evoke a physiological response in a cell, a tissue, or an organism

Mental Functioning Ontolog

sensory perception in GOGO:0007600 sensory perceptionThe series of events required for an organism to receive a sensory stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

GO:0007601 visual perceptionThe series of events required for an organism to receive a visual stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. Visual stimuli are detected in the form of photons and are processed to form an image.

GO:0050914 sensory perception of salty tasteThe series of events required to receive a salty taste stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

Rule for definitions

If A is the child and B the parent (A is_a B), then the definition of A should read:

A =def. a B which Cs

where C tells us what it is about the Bs which makes them As

sensory perception in GOGO:0007600 sensory perceptionThe series of events required for an organism to receive a sensory stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

GO:0007601 visual perceptionThe series of events required for an organism to receive a visual stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. Visual stimuli are detected in the form of photons and are processed to form an image.

GO:0050914 sensory perception of salty tasteThe series of events required to receive a salty taste stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

sensory perception in GOGO:0007600 sensory perceptionThe series of events required for an organism to receive a sensory stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

GO:0007601 visual perceptionSensory perception with visual stimulus.

GO:0050914 sensory perception of salty tasteThe series of events required to receive a salty taste stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

sensory perception in GOGO:0007600 sensory perceptionThe series of events required for an organism to receive a sensory stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal. This is a neurological process.

GO:0007601 visual perceptionSensory perception with visual stimulus.

GO:0050914 sensory perception of salty tasteSensory perception with salty taste stimulus

relation between NBO and MF

NBO term MF termsensation behavior sensation attention behavior attention spatial perception behavior spatial perception

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Behavior Ontology

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Mental Functionin

g (MF)

Biological Process(GO)

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Cell(CL)

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nt(FMA, GO)

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MOLECULEMolecule

(ChEBI, SO,RnaO, PrO)

Molecular Function(GO)

Molecular Process(GO)The Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies

(OBO) Foundry(draft, with Gene Ontology marked in yellow)

A problem with ‘Neuro Behavior Ontology’

• Neuro Behavior Ontology• NeuroBehavior Ontology• Neurobehavior Ontology

Neuro = behavior of organisms with neurons

Not

NBO will be renamed (George agrees)

Henceforth it will be called:

Behavior Ontology

but we will keep ‘NBO’ as namespace IDBehavior ontology means ‘behavior’ in the narrow sense = not covering physiological behavior

Mental Functioning vs BehaviorN

• Study of behavior is analogous to but distinct from study of physiology– physiology pertains to internal bodily movements, – ‘behavior’ in the sense of NBO pertains to movements of

the whole body and of external parts such as arms and legs (crying, sleep …)

• Being squashed by a truck is not behavior. • Being accidentally burned by a flame is not behavior• But reacting thereto by withdrawing from the flame

is.

Proposals

• Explore consequences of using the Feeding Behavior Ontology as a module descending from NBO:feeding behavior

• Create a version of NBO in which behavior terms applying only in humans are marked

• Explore the possibility of unifying NBO with ABO by labeling terms according to which taxa they apply to

GOTAX identifies to which taxa GO terms apply