Mind & Matter Hormones & Instincts: Hunger, Aggression & Parenting Behavior | Jonny Kohl | 262
Nov 7, 2025
Dr. Johannes Kohl, a Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute, delves into how hormones and hunger shape animal behaviors like parenting and aggression. He reveals how hunger neurons in the hypothalamus can influence parenting circuits, toggling behaviors based on internal states. The intricate balance of hormonal fluctuations during the estrous cycle alters aggression probability in mice. Kohl also discusses how pregnancy rewires the brain for maternal instincts, and highlights the implications of disrupting human hormonal cycles through modern interventions.
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Instincts Are Robust Yet Flexible
- Instinctive behaviors are pre-wired yet remain highly modifiable by experience and internal state.
- Johannes Kohl emphasizes instincts are robust but adaptable for survival and learning.
Hunger Neurons Encode Anticipation
- AGRP neurons in the hypothalamus encode hunger and create an aversive motivational state that drives food-seeking.
- These neurons ramp with deprivation and are rapidly suppressed by food cues, enabling anticipatory regulation.
Many States, Few Behavioral Choices
- High-dimensional internal states map onto a low-dimensional behavioral decision space, e.g., care, attack, or ignore pups.
- Kohl used virgin females and found hunger and estrous state jointly set behavioral probabilities.