Higher-Order Mechanisms in Olfactory Communication: Individual Recognition and Scent-Overmarking

这一建议涉及嗅觉感知和交流的机制，特别是个体之间通过气味标记的竞争。大多数哺乳动物通过气味标记来传达它们的个体身份和其他信息，许多有气味标记的物种也有气味过度标记（将它们的气味储存在其他个体储存气味的同一位置）。最近发现，在至少两种啮齿类动物中，个体可以确定两个人的气味中哪一个在overmark中处于顶部，而不管这两种气味是完全重叠还是只是部分重叠。因此，动物可以确定哪只动物最近做过标记。这些数据表明：(1)动物有一种感知/认知策略来确定哪种气味是最近沉积的；(2)它们有一些以前未被怀疑的感觉机制来完成这一任务。在这项研究中，将进行行为实验来调查这些非凡能力的功能，特别是与相关假设有关的：(a)个体参与气味标记竞争，以保持自己的气味在一个地区是最新的气味；(b)其他个体将气味标记作为评估潜在伴侣质量的一种手段。具体来说，雌性可能更喜欢持续过度标记的雄性，因为这是雄性活力和质量的衡量标准。这些实验将包括使用习惯辨别方法的典型实验室测试和使用半自然实验室围栏的其他实验，以近似自然情况的复杂性。在嗅觉及其在动物行为中的作用的特定背景下，本研究将阐明新发现的分析单个气味的空间阵列并确定哪个气味在顶部的能力的意义（即，感知单个气味阵列的“深度”或最近）。这种感知能力可能存在于许多物种中，并且在广泛的情况下具有潜在的重要性。我们的研究旨在确定这种能力进化的原因，并调查特定的假设，即它们在评估其他个体的健康、活力和质量方面很重要，从而影响配偶选择和竞争互动。这个项目整合了嗅觉交流的机制和功能方法。在更广泛的背景下，这项研究展示了一些涉及社会感知的高阶机制，并以一种独特的方式描述了动物可能用来相互评估的复杂过程。这种对其他个体的高阶认知在整个动物王国中广泛存在，这反过来表明，这种对他人的评估在复杂社会组织所必需的复杂社会行为的进化中起着重要作用。如果我们要真正理解动物和人类社会交流的进化，以及社会识别、社会记忆和社会行为背后的神经机制，那么理解这种高阶社会认知是必要的。

9724007 Johnston This proposal concerns mechanisms of olfactory perception and communication, particularly with regard to competition between individuals by scent marking. Most mammals communicate their individual identity and other information by scent marking, and many species that scent mark also scent over-mark (deposit their scent in the same location that other individuals have deposited scent). It has recently been discovered that, in at least two species of rodents, individuals can determine which of two individuals' scents is on top in an over-mark, regardless of whether the two scents are completely or only partially overlapping. Animals can thus determine which animal has marked most recently. The data suggest: (1) that the animals have a perceptual/cognitive strategy to determine which scent was deposited most recently; and (2) that they have some previously unsuspected sensory mechanisms to accomplish this. In this research, behavioral experiments will be carried out to investigate the functions of these extraordinary abilities, particularly with regard to the related hypotheses that (a) individuals engage in scent marking competitions in order to maintain their scent as the most recent scent in an area and (b) that other individuals evaluate scent over- marks as one means of assessing the quality of potential mates. Specifically, females may prefer males that are persistent at over-marking because this is a measure of male vigor and quality. These experiments will involve both typical laboratory tests using habituation-discrimination methods and other experiments using semi-natural laboratory enclosures to approximate the complexity of natural situations. In the specific context of the sense of smell and its role in animal behavior, this research will clarify the significance of a newly discovered ability to analyze spatial arrays of individual scents and determine which scent is on top (that is, to perceive "depth" or recen cy in arrays of individual odors). This perceptual ability probably occurs in many species and is potentially important in a wide range of situations. Our research aims to determine why such abilities have evolved, and to investigate the specific hypothesis that they are important in evaluation of the health, vigor, and quality of other individuals and thereby influence mate choice and competitive interactions. This project integrates mechanistic and functional approaches to olfactory communication. In a more general context, this research demonstrates some of the higher-order mechanisms involved in social perception and characterizes in a unique way the kinds of sophisticated processes animals may use to evaluate one another. Such higher-order knowledge of other individuals are widespread throughout the animal kingdom, which in turn suggests that this kind of evaluation of others has been important in the evolution of complex social behavior necessary for complex social organization. Understanding this kind of higher-order social cognition is necessary if we are to truly understand both the evolution of social communication and the neural mechanisms underlying social recognition, social memory, and social behavior in animals and in humans.