Social learning enhances auditory cortex sensitivity and task acquisition

项目总结 技能的获得可以通过社会经验来促进，通常是通过接触同种表演 定义明确的行为。事实上，社交学习(SL)对于许多核心行为的获得至关重要，包括 听觉交流。尽管听觉SL的神经基础仍然不确定，但一个看似合理的假设是 正如许多人发现的那样，社会经验可能会在听觉皮质(AC)中诱导经验依赖型可塑性 学习的形式，从而促进听觉任务的习得。社交学习也可能对 发育性听力损失(HL)是一种普遍存在的感觉障碍，与持续性听力障碍有关 言语和语言习得，尤其是在社会因素被认为有助于语言习得的情况下 患有霍奇金淋巴瘤的儿童。三个目标测试了从这个假设中产生的预测：目标1首先证明了 SL对任务学习的积极影响：幼稚的观察家沙鼠接受了五天的训练 执行调幅速率辨别任务的演示者。一个不透明的分隔物将 观察者和示威者，这样就没有视觉线索了。观察者沙鼠随后被允许练习 听觉任务，以及评估的学习速度。为了测试需要交流活动的预测，交流将 在社交体验中处于失活状态。目标1将继续测试多巴胺能 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 在社交体验期间在AC中释放，使用纤维光度法和基因表达的多巴胺传感器。 然后，我们将在社交暴露期间阻断AC中的多巴胺受体，以确定 社交经验被削弱了。Aim 2测试了AC神经元对听觉提示的敏感性将是 在SL期间进行了增强。沙土鼠将在交流电中使用电极阵列进行测量，并在5天内进行记录 社交曝光率。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度的提高能否解释练习过程中任务习得率的提高。至 测试听觉社交提示的贡献(即，演示者发声)，将获得录音 来自暴露在听觉任务提示加上演示者发声回放的观察者。AIM 3测试 预测SL将改善听力损失饲养动物的任务习得。幼年沙鼠将收到 永久性(踝关节摘除)或暂时性(耳塞)传导性HL。然后，动物将被仪器化 在交流中使用电极阵列，并在目标2中进行评估。本提案的创新之处在于：(I)延长电流 听觉学习范例，包括社交线索，(Ii)在学习过程中使用无线录音，以在- 神经和行为敏感性的动物比较，以及(Iii)改变目前HL研究的重点 从关注退化的感觉处理转向考虑社会因素如何促进听觉 技能。如果成功，该项目将确定一种中枢神经系统机制，以调节社会增强的听觉 并提供了一种新的方法来修复HL儿童的感觉和认知障碍。

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.