Neural mechanisms of animal vocalization and communication

该提案涉及啮齿动物的发声和动物在发声交流中使用的代码。研究了大鼠产生超声波发声的大脑机制，以及这些发声对其他大鼠的交流意义或“意义”。对成年大鼠的两种主要叫声类型进行了研究：长警报叫声和短社交叫声。这项拟议研究的目的是(1)提供证据，证明每种发声类型都需要使用不同化学编码的不同脑子系统的活动。警报呼叫是基于大脑对乙酰胆碱的利用，以及对多巴胺的社交呼叫。这两种神经化学物质都是从特定神经通路的末端在大脑中释放的。该项目还旨在识别活跃的脑细胞，这些细胞产生和释放这些神经化学物质，并直接参与发声的产生。此外，(3)该提案包括行为研究，旨在提供证据，证明老鼠可以清楚地区分不同类型的叫声，甚至可以识别其群体中个别老鼠的叫声。最后(4)该提案包含了从婴儿到成人发声个体发展的研究计划。这项提议的最终目标是将这些研究扩展到其他物种，包括人类。本研究有可能揭示人类婴儿哭闹的脑机制和人类情感的声音表达的发展。它还将有助于我们了解人类语言的情感色彩和哺乳动物物种的非语言语音交流的进化发展。

The proposal concerns rodent vocalization and the code used by animals in vocal communication. Brain mechanisms involved in the production of ultrasonic vocalizations in the rat and the communicative significance, or "meaning" of these vocalizations for other rats are studied. Two main types of calls in adult rats are studied: the long alarm calls and the short social calls. The objectives of the proposed research are (1) to provide evidence that each of the vocalization types requires activity of a different brain subsystem, which uses different chemical code. The alarm calls are based on the utilization of the brain chemical known as acetylcholine and the social calls on the chemical known as dopamine. Both of these neurochemicals are released in the brain from terminals of specific neuronal pathways. The project also aims at (2) identifying active brain cells, which produce and release these neurochemicals and are directly involved in production of vocalizations. In addition to that, (3) the proposal includes behavioural studies, which are designed to provide evidence that rats can clearly distinguish different types of their calls and can even recognize calls of individual rats within their group. Finally (4) the proposal contains plans for studies of individual development of vocalizations from infants to adults. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to extend these studies to other species, including man. This research has a potential to reveal brain mechanism of human infant cry and development of vocal expression of human emotions. It will also contribute to our knowledge of the evolutionary development of emotional coloration of speech in humans and non-verbal vocal communication in mammalian species.