Physiological Correlates And Neural Mechanisms Of Vocal

Z01 HD 001123-12 LCE和Z01 HD 001124-12 LCE是共同研究灵长类听觉交流的伙伴项目。这些研究的总体目标是从发育、神经机制、内分泌因素和社会背景等方面全面了解灵长类听觉交流。两种非人类灵长类动物，松鼠猴和普通绒猴是主要的研究对象，并在适当的情况下从其他物种收集额外的数据。该项目先前的工作表明，婴儿哭声的功能和声学等价物的产生是由位于大脑皮层额叶前中线的边缘皮质调节的，听觉皮质中的单个神经元件(颞上回)对物种特定发声的声学结构中的细微差异特别敏感，这表明在调节个体差异(声音特征)方面发挥着重要作用。对内分泌机制的研究表明，内源性催乳素水平与婴儿提取测试中的携带时间相关，通过使用溴隐亭(一种多巴胺激动剂)减少催乳素会干扰婴儿提取。新的发现是：(A)从血液和尿样中检测的催乳素(在松鼠猴子中)与非侵入性尿液收集有关，因为与正在进行的行为观察的兼容性增加而更受欢迎。基于对3个社会群体数据的分析，我们得出结论，尿催乳素与婴儿的身体接触和对婴儿的照顾强度呈正相关。尿皮质醇与年龄较大的婴儿和青少年的存在所带来的社交破坏程度呈正相关，这些婴儿和青少年每天将大部分时间花在社交游戏上。

Z01 HD 001123-12 LCE and Z01 HD 001124-12 LCE are companion projects that together investigate auditory communication in primates. The overall goal of these studies is to provide a comprehensive understanding of primate auditory communication in terms of development, neural mechanisms, endocrine factors, and social context. Two non-human primates, the squirrel monkey and common marmoset, are the main subjects of study, with additional data collected from other species where appropriate. Prior work in this project has shown that production of sounds that are the functional and acoustic equivalents of cry sounds in human infants are mediated by limbic cortex located along the anterior midline of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex, and that single neural elements in the auditory cortex (superior temporal gyrus) are particularly responsive to subtle differences in the acoustic structure of species-specific vocalizations, suggesting an important role in mediating individual differences (vocal signatures). Studies of endocrine mechanisms have shown that endogenous prolactin levels correlate with carrying time in infant retrieval tests, and that reducing prolactin by administering bromocryptine (a dopamine agonist) disrupts infant retrieval. New findings are (a) prolactin assayed from blood and urine samples (in squirrel monkeys) are correlated, with the noninvasive urine collection preferred due to increased compatability with ongoing behavioral observations. Based on analysis of data from 3 social groups, we concluded that urinary prolactin is postively associated with physical contact with infants and with the intensity of caregiving towards infants. Urinary cortisol is positively associated with level of social disruption brought about by the presence of older infants and juveniles, who spend a large portion of their daily time budget engaged in social play.