Mechanisms for behavioral release by audio-visual stimuli: Research on avian song system model

在这个项目的最后一年里，我们通过两种战略审查了视听一体化的进程。首先，从基因表达的角度研究了视听整合的解剖学基础。在斑马雀和孟加拉雀类中，雄雀以舞蹈和歌声出现在雌雀面前。通过用TFT视频和扬声器独立呈现声音和图像，我们研究了雀类前脑中基因表达的模式。结果表明，在视觉刺激下，NCL的基因表达较多，而在声音刺激下，NCM和CHV的基因表达较多。在视听复合刺激下，NCL基因表达减少，提示视听整合发生在NCL水平。其次，我们使用视听复合刺激进行操作员辨别训练。女性和男性在整合听觉和视觉刺激的方式上有所不同：男性确实整合了它们，而女性主要依赖视觉信息。这一趋势在生物刺激(即同种鸟类鸣叫的声音和图像)时比使用人工刺激(即纯音、鼻子和几何图形)时更明显。综上所述，在NCL，视听刺激是在端脑水平上进行加工的，而人工刺激和自然刺激经历了不同的加工水平。

During the last year of this project we examined the process of audio-visual integration by means of two strategies. First, we studied anatomical basis of audio-visual integration by means of gene expression. In zebra finches and Bengalese finches, males appear to females with dance and song. By presenting sound and images independently with a TFT video and a speaker, we examined the patterns of gene expression in the forebrain of the finches. After the stimulation brains were processed with immunocytochemistry.Results indicated that more gene expressions were observed in NCL when stimulated with vision alone, but with sound alone NCM and cHV had more gene expressions. With audio-visual compound stimuli, gene expression decrease in NCL, suggesting that audio-visual integration occurring at the level of NCL.Next we used operant discrimination training with audio-visual compound stimuli. Females and males differed in the way they integrate auditory and visual stimuli : males did integrated them while female mainly relied on visual information. This tendency was more pronounced when biological stimuli (i.e., sound and image of conspecific bird singing) than when artificial (i.e., pure tones, nose, and geometric figures) were used.In summary, while audio-visual stimuli are processed at the level of telencephalon at NCL, artificial and natural stimuli undergo different levels of processing.