DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Vocal communication in golden hamsters: Behavioral and neural responses of males to female vocal signals

几十年来，科学家们一直对动物如何识别社会交流中使用的特定物种的声音很感兴趣。听觉信号在大脑的听觉系统中被处理和识别。然而，声音识别还必须涉及到影响接受者内部状态的其他大脑区域的激活，并随后调节对声音信号的行为反应。为了解决这个问题，研究人员正在研究金仓鼠在性环境中产生的超声波发声（usv），以及对这些发声的行为和神经反应。雄性和雌性仓鼠在性交时都表现出不同的声音。在这个项目中要测试的假设是，usv在性别识别中起作用，通过激活与奖励和动机有关的大脑区域，usv增加性唤起并刺激对声源的接近行为。这项研究验证了一种假设，即行为反应是由多巴胺调节的，多巴胺是一种调节奖励的关键化合物。初步数据表明，雌性比雄性发声更多，雌性usv的持续时间更长，带宽更宽。此外，两性的发声都表现出特定的声音特征，可以表明性唤起的程度和呼叫者的动机。本研究是USV研究的一个重要创新：1)声学和统计分析USV来证明性别歧视；2)回放实验来验证性别识别；3)对USV的神经反应来揭示识别这些USV行为意义所涉及的大脑区域和机制。此外，这项研究将揭示usv的其他功能，这些功能近年来在理解生物医学研究中使用的啮齿动物模型物种的社会行为和交流方面变得重要。该研究还将为STEM本科生提供研究机会。

For decades, scientists have been intrigued by how animals recognize the species-specific vocalizations used in social communication. Auditory signals are processed and recognized along the auditory system in the brain. However, vocal recognition must also involve the activation of other brain regions that affect the internal state of the receiver, and subsequently, modulate the behavioral responses to vocal signals. To address this question, the researchers are studying ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) produced by the golden hamster in a sexual context, and behavioral and neural responses to these vocalizations. Both male and female hamsters exhibit a diverse vocal repertoire during sexual encounters. The hypothesis to be tested in this project is that USVs function in sex recognition, and by activating brain regions involved with reward and motivation, USVs increase sexual arousal and stimulate approach behavior to the sound source. The research tests the hypothesis that behavioral responses are regulated by dopamine, a critical compound in mediating reward. Preliminary data suggest that females vocalize more than males and that female USVs are longer in duration and have broader bandwidth than male USVs. In addition, the vocalizations of both sexes exhibit specific sound features that could indicate levels of sexual arousal and motivation of the caller. This study represents a key innovation in the study of USVs by integrating: 1) acoustic and statistical analyses of USV to demonstrate sex discrimination, 2) playback experiments to validate sex recognition and 3) neural responses to the USVs to reveal the brain regions and mechanisms involved in recognizing the behavioral significance of these USV. Moreover, this study will shed light onto other functions of USVs, which in recent years have become important in understanding social behavior and communication in rodent model species used in biomedical research. The research will also provide research opportunities for STEM undergraduate students.