Cross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog
Cross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0406407102
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发表时间：
2005-02-15
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Hödl, W
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Narins, PM;Grabul, DS;Hödl, W
大脑将来自不同感觉模式的输入结合在一起，以实现对事件的统一感知的机制鲜为人知。这一现象在飞镖毒蛙的雄性身上进行了研究。这些动物以身体和精力保卫自己的领地，抵御同种的呼唤入侵者。在之前对机电模型青蛙的实地研究中，我们只有在听觉提示(广告呼叫)与视觉提示(声囊脉动)同时呈现时，才能实验性地唤起这种攻击性行为。在目前的野外实验中，我们使用改良版本的机电模型蛙来呈现由实验引入的时间延迟或空间差异分隔的视觉和听觉线索，以探索这种动物的时间和空间整合。在时间整合实验中，在召唤回合中出现时间重叠的双峰刺激一致地诱发攻击行为；在同一任务中，没有时间重叠的双峰刺激的效果相对较差。在空间整合研究中，尽管呈现了双峰刺激的组成部分，初始空间差异高达12厘米，但战斗行为仍然存在。这些结果表明，在自由行为的动物的自然栖息地中，时间和空间整合可以被可靠地估计，并且我们可以使用该物种的攻击行为作为野外跨模式整合的指标。
The mechanisms by which the brain binds together inputs from separate sensory modalities to effect a unified percept of events are poorly understood. This phenomenon was studied in males of the dart-poison frog Epipedobates femoralis. These animals physically and vigorously defend their territories against conspecific calling intruders. in prior field studies with an electromechanical model frog, we were able to experimentally evoke this aggressive behavior only when an auditory cue (advertisement call) was presented simultaneously with a visual cue (vocal-sac pulsations). In the present field experiments,we used a modified version of the electromechanical model frog to present territorial males with visual and auditory cues separated by experimentally introduced temporal delays or spatial disparities to probe temporal and spatial integration in this animal. In temporal integration experiments, bimodal stimuli with temporal overlap during calling bouts consistently evoked aggressive behavior; stimuli lacking bimodal temporal overlap were relatively ineffective at the same task. In spatial integration studies, despite presenting the components of the bimodal stimulus with an initial spatial disparity of up to 12 cm, fighting behavior persisted. These results demonstrate that temporal and spatial integration may be reliably estimated in a freely behaving animal in its natural habitat and that we can use aggressive behavior in this species as an index of cross-modal integration in the field.