Physiological Correlates And Neural Mechanisms Of Vocal

Z01 HD 001123-12 LCE和Z01 HD 001124-12 LCE是合作项目，共同研究灵长类动物的听觉交流。这些研究的总体目标是从发育、神经机制、内分泌因素和社会环境等方面全面了解灵长类动物的听觉交流。两种非人类灵长类动物，松鼠猴和普通狨猴，是研究的主要对象，并在适当情况下从其他物种收集额外数据。该项目之前的工作表明，人类婴儿哭声的功能和声学等效声音的产生是由位于大脑皮层额叶前中线的边缘皮层介导的，并且听觉皮层（颞上回）中的单个神经元素对物种特定发声的声学结构的细微差异特别敏感。表明在调节个体差异（声音特征）中起重要作用。内分泌机制的研究表明，在婴儿取回试验中，内源性催乳素水平与携带时间相关，并且通过给予溴隐碱（一种多巴胺激动剂）来减少催乳素会扰乱婴儿取回。新的发现是：(a)从血液和尿液样本（松鼠猴）中检测催乳素是相关的，由于与正在进行的行为观察增加了兼容性，因此首选非侵入性尿液收集。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。尿中的皮质醇与年龄较大的婴儿和青少年的存在所带来的社会破坏水平呈正相关，这些婴儿和青少年每天花费很大一部分时间用于社交游戏。

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.