Conserved mechanisms of vocalization coding in mammalian and songbird auditory midbrain

Sarah M N Woolley; Christine V Portfors

doi:10.1016/j.heares.2013.05.005

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Conserved mechanisms of vocalization coding in mammalian and songbird auditory midbrain

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Conserved mechanisms of vocalization coding in mammalian and songbird auditory midbrain

Sarah M N Woolley and Christine V Portfors

Hearing research, Vol.305(1), pp.45-56

11/2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2013.05.005

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/109646

PMCID: PMC3818289

PMID: 23726970

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2013.05.005View

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Abstract

Pattern Recognition, Physiological

Species Specificity

Acoustic Stimulation

Vocalization, Animal

Animals

Auditory Pathways - physiology

Social Behavior

Mammals - physiology

Songbirds - physiology

Mice

Chiroptera - physiology

Mesencephalon - physiology

Auditory Perception

The ubiquity of social vocalizations among animals provides the opportunity to identify conserved mechanisms of auditory processing that subserve communication. Identifying auditory coding properties that are shared across vocal communicators will provide insight into how human auditory processing leads to speech perception. Here, we compare auditory response properties and neural coding of social vocalizations in auditory midbrain neurons of mammalian and avian vocal communicators. The auditory midbrain is a nexus of auditory processing because it receives and integrates information from multiple parallel pathways and provides the ascending auditory input to the thalamus. The auditory midbrain is also the first region in the ascending auditory system where neurons show complex tuning properties that are correlated with the acoustics of social vocalizations. Single unit studies in mice, bats and zebra finches reveal shared principles of auditory coding including tonotopy, excitatory and inhibitory interactions that shape responses to vocal signals, nonlinear response properties that are important for auditory coding of social vocalizations and modulation tuning. Additionally, single neuron responses in the mouse and songbird midbrain are reliable, selective for specific syllables, and rely on spike timing for neural discrimination of distinct vocalizations. We propose that future research on auditory coding of vocalizations in mouse and songbird midbrain neurons adopt similar experimental and analytical approaches so that conserved principles of vocalization coding may be distinguished from those that are specialized for each species. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Communication Sounds and the Brain: New Directions and Perspectives".

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Title: Conserved mechanisms of vocalization coding in mammalian and songbird auditory midbrain
Creators: Sarah M N Woolley - Columbia University, Department of Psychology, 406 Schermerhorn Hall, 1190 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027, USA. Electronic address: sw2277@columbia.edu
Christine V Portfors
Publication Details: Hearing research, Vol.305(1), pp.45-56
Academic Unit: Office of the Provost
Publisher: Netherlands
Grant note: R01 DC009810 / NIDCD NIH HHS R01-DC009810 / NIDCD NIH HHS
Identifiers: 99900547032201842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article