SGER: "Language-like" Areas for Audiovocal Communication in Bats

听觉交流的动物模型对于主要从事非语言交流的婴儿的听觉交流研究尤为重要。非语言交流是动物之间唯一的交流方式。对交际声音处理和整合的皮层机制的理解，可以帮助我们深入了解人类语言的细胞基础，以及它是如何从现有的神经回路进化而来的。这项拟议的研究将探索蝙蝠额叶皮层在声音社会交流中的作用。我们将开发和部署一种行为分析，以研究额叶听觉场和前扣带的缺失如何影响社会呼叫的感知和产生，例如，在攻击过程中发出的宽带噪声音节。行为试验将使我们能够定量地评估正常和脑损伤动物对正常和修改的交流声音的反应。皮质病变将使用磁共振成像技术定位，如有必要，将使用电生理记录技术确认其功能失活。在额叶皮层受损的动物中，发声的声学结构和正常动物的这些区域的微刺激将检查额叶皮层在调节交流发声的频谱和句法结构中的作用。这项研究将为蝙蝠额叶皮质区域与所谓的“语言区域”之间的关系（如果有的话）提供新的见解，这些“语言区域”与人类的语音感知和产生有关。

Animal models of auditory communication are especially relevant for studies on auditory communication in infants who primarily engage in nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is the only means of communication in animals. An understanding of the cortical mechanisms for processing and integration of communicative sounds can provide insights into the cellular basis of human speech and how it evolved from the available neural circuitry.The proposed research will explore the role of the frontal cortex for audiovocal social communication in bats. We will develop and deploy a behavioral assay to examine how the absence of a frontal auditory field and the anterior cingulate affects the perception and production of social calls, e.g.,broadband noisy syllables that are emitted during aggression. The behavioral assay will allow us to assess in a quantitative fashion the response to both normal and modified communication sounds in normal and brain-lesioned animals. Cortical lesions will be localized using magnetic resonance imaging technology and, if necessary, their functional inactivation will be confirmed using electrophysiological recording techniques. The acoustic structure ofvocalizations in animals with lesions in the frontal cortex and microstimulation of these areas in normal animals will examine the role of the frontal cortex in regulating the spectral and syntactic structure within communicative vocalizations. This research will provide new insights on the relationship, if any, of the frontal cortical areas in bats with the so called "language areas" associated with speech sound perception and production in humans.