Social learning enhances auditory cortex sensitivity and task acquisition

社交学习增强听觉皮层的敏感性和任务获取

• 批准号: 10420532
• 负责人: Dan Harvey Sanes
• 金额: $ 62万
• 依托单位: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-10 至 2027-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10420532
• 关键词: Abbreviations; Acoustics; Adolescent; Animals; Auditory; Auditory area; Behavior; Behavioral; Bilateral; Cannulas; Child; Cognitive; Communication; Conductive hearing loss; Cues; Development; Discrimination; Dopamine; Dopamine Receptor; Earplug; Electrodes; Excision; Exposure to; Fiber; Gerbils; Goals; Impairment; Infusion procedures; Language Development; Learning; Malleus; Measures; Mediating; Muscimol; Neurons; Perception; Perceptual learning; Pharmacology; Photometry; Placebos; Population; Research; Rewards; Role; Saline; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Speech; Stimulus; Testing; Training; Visual; base; design; experience; hearing impairment; improved; innovation; instrument; language processing; neuroregulation; novel strategies; relating to nervous system; response; sensor; skill acquisition; skills; social; social factors; social learning; sound; speech processing; vocalization; wireless

PROJECT SUMMARY Skill acquisition can be facilitated by social experience, usually through exposure to a conspecific performing a well-defined behavior. In fact, social learning (SL) is pivotal to the acquisition of many core behaviors, including aural communication. Although the neural bases for auditory SL remain uncertain, one plausible hypothesis is that social experience may induce experience-dependent plasticity in auditory cortex (AC), as found for many forms of learning, thereby facilitating auditory task acquisition. Social learning may also have implications for developmental hearing loss (HL), a prevalent sensory impairment that is associated with persistent deficits in speech and language acquisition, especially since social factors are thought to facilitate language acquisition in children with HL. Three Aims test predictions that emerge from this hypothesis: Aim 1 first demonstrates the positive impact of SL on task learning: Naïve Observer gerbils receive five days of exposure to a trained Demonstrator performing an amplitude modulation rate discrimination task. An opaque divider separates Observer and Demonstrator, such that visual cues are absent. Observer gerbils are then permitted to practice the auditory task, and the rate of learning assessed. To test the prediction that AC activity is required, AC will be inactivated during social experience. Aim 1 will go on to test the prediction that dopaminergic neuromodulation within AC is be necessary for social learning. We will first determine whether dopamine is released in AC during social experience, using fiber photometry and a genetically expressed dopamine sensor. We will then block dopamine receptors in AC during social exposure to determine whether the benefits of social experience are diminished. Aim 2 tests the prediction that AC neuron sensitivity to auditory cues will be enhanced during SL. Gerbils will be instrumented with electrode arrays in AC, and recorded during five days of social exposure. Single neuron and population responses to auditory task stimuli will be assessed to determine if improved neural sensitivity during observation can explain the rate of task acquisition rate during practice. To test the contribution of an auditory social cue (i.e., Demonstrator vocalizations), recordings will be obtained from Observers exposed to auditory task cues plus playback of demonstrator vocalizations. Aim 3 tests the prediction that SL will improve task acquisition in hearing loss-reared animals. Juvenile gerbils will receive either permanent (malleus removal) or transient (earplugs) conductive HL. Animals will then be instrumented with electrode arrays in AC, and assessed as in Aim 2. Innovations in this proposal are to: (i) extend current auditory learning paradigms to include social cues, (ii) use wireless recordings during learning to make within- animal comparisons of neural and behavioral sensitivity, and (iii) shift the current emphasis in HL research from a focus on degraded sensory processing to one that considers how social factors may facilitate auditory skills. If successful, the project will identify a CNS mechanism that mediates socially-enhanced auditory learning, and provide a novel approach to remediate sensory and cognitive barriers in children with HL.

项目摘要 社会经验可以促进技能的获得，通常是通过接触同种表演者， 明确的行为。事实上，社会学习（SL）是获得许多核心行为的关键，包括 听觉交流虽然听觉SL的神经基础仍然不确定，但一个合理的假设是， 社会经验可以诱导听觉皮层（AC）的经验依赖性可塑性，正如许多人所发现的那样， 学习的形式，从而促进听觉任务的获取。社会学习也可能对 发育性听力损失（HL）是一种普遍存在的感觉障碍， 言语和语言习得，特别是因为社会因素被认为有助于语言习得， 儿童HL三个目标测试从这个假设中出现的预测：目标1首先证明了 SL对任务学习的积极影响：天真的观察员沙鼠接受了五天的训练， 演示器执行幅度调制速率鉴别任务。一个不透明的分隔器 观察者和演示者，这样视觉线索就不存在了。然后允许沙鼠观察 听觉任务和评估的学习率。为了测试需要AC活动的预测，AC将 在社会经验中失去活力。Aim 1将继续测试多巴胺能神经元 AC内的神经调节对于社会学习是必要的。我们将首先确定多巴胺是否 在社会经验中，使用纤维光度法和遗传表达的多巴胺传感器在AC中释放。 然后，我们将在社会暴露期间阻断AC中的多巴胺受体，以确定 社会经验减少。目标2测试AC神经元对听觉线索的敏感性将降低的预测 在SL期间增强。沙鼠将在AC中用电极阵列进行仪器化，并在五天的时间内记录。 社会曝光将评估单个神经元和群体对听觉任务刺激的反应，以确定 观察过程中神经敏感性的提高是否可以解释练习过程中任务获得率的提高。到 测试听觉社会线索的贡献（即，示范发声），录音将获得 来自暴露于听觉任务线索的观察者加上演示者发声的回放。目标3测试 预测SL将改善听力损失饲养动物的任务获取。幼沙鼠将获得 永久性（锤骨切除）或暂时性（耳塞）传导性HL。然后将动物用仪器 在AC中使用电极阵列，并如目标2中评估。本提案的创新之处在于：㈠扩大现有的 听觉学习范式，包括社会线索，（ii）使用无线录音在学习过程中，使内- 神经和行为敏感性的动物比较，以及（iii）转移HL研究的当前重点 从关注退化的感觉处理到考虑社会因素如何促进听觉 skills.如果成功，该项目将确定一种中枢神经系统机制，介导社会增强听觉 学习，并提供了一种新的方法来补救HL儿童的感觉和认知障碍。