Neural mechanisms of social preferences

声音交流是各种物种社会行为中不可或缺的组成部分。为了使通信系统正常工作，接收器必须正确地感知和响应通信信号。对特定声音信号的感知和偏好一直是女性择偶研究的重点。然而，知觉并不是一成不变的，而是可以由发展和成人经验塑造和调节的。特别是，最近对哺乳动物听觉系统的研究强调了发育和成人的声音体验如何影响听觉皮质中单个神经元的神经反应和接受场。神经递质多巴胺被认为对神经反应的这些可塑性变化具有重要意义。例如，社交和感觉经验似乎调节了听觉皮质内神经递质多巴胺的水平，而多巴胺能神经元的刺激导致了与行为相关的显著刺激的可塑性和编码的变化。*我研究的长期目标是将这两个研究方向结合起来，特别是研究对配偶选择和偏好至关重要的信号的神经反应的可塑性和神经调节。我们在一只雌性鸣鸟斑马雀身上研究了这一点，在斑马雀中，雌性对歌声的偏好已经被很好地记录下来，神经底物易于监测和操纵。我将结合神经生理学、药理学和免疫组织化学的方法，研究鸣禽感知和偏好背后的神经机制，以及它们是如何被社会和感觉经验塑造的。特别是，我们将通过两个广泛的目标调查多巴胺和发展经验在多大程度上调节社会相关刺激的处理变化。对于目标1，我们将研究多巴胺在多大程度上调节神经对不同吸引力的声刺激的反应。此外，我们将确定自然相互作用，特别是交配，调节多巴胺神经元活动和偏好的程度。在目标2中，我们将研究听觉神经元和多巴胺神经元对社会调节歌曲的反应的发育轨迹，并首次研究听觉歌曲是如何重组没有发育歌曲暴露的雌性个体的听觉反应的。我们还将进行断路研究，以测试听觉和多巴胺输入对发育性歌曲偏好学习的贡献。总之，这里提出的研究将为我们提供新的见解，了解一生中的经历如何调节偏好和知觉以及它们的神经基础。**

Vocal communication is an integral component of social behavior across a wide range of species. For communication systems to function, receivers must properly perceive and respond to communication signals. Perception of and preference for particular vocal signals has been a focus of studies on female mate choice. However, perception is not static, but instead can be shaped and modulated by both developmental and adult experiences. In particular, recent studies in the mammalian auditory system have highlighted how developmental and adult acoustic experience can influence the neural responses and receptive fields of individual neurons in the auditory cortex. The neurotransmitter dopamine has been hypothesized to be significant to these plastic changes in neural response. For example, social and sensory experience appear to modulate levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine within the auditory cortex, and the stimulation of dopaminergic neurons leads to changes in the plasticity and encoding of behaviorally-relevant, salient stimuli. ******The long-term aim of my research is to integrate these two research directions, in particular, to investigate the plasticity and neuromodulation of neural responses to signals important for mate choice and preference. We study this in a female songbird, the zebra finch, where female preferences for song have been well-documented and neural substrates are tractable for monitoring and manipulation. Using a combination of neurophysiological, pharmacological, and immunohistochemical methods, I will investigate the neural mechanisms underlying perception and preferences and how they are shaped by social and sensory experiences in songbirds. In particular, we will investigate the degree to which dopamine and developmental experience mediate variation in the processing of socially relevant stimuli through two broad aims. For Aim 1, we will investigate the degree to which dopamine modulates neural responses to acoustic stimuli that vary in attractiveness. In addition, we will determine the degree to which natural interactions, in particular mating, modulate dopamine neuron activity and preference. In Aim 2, we will examine the developmental trajectory of auditory and dopamine neuron responses to socially modulated song and investigate how hearing song for the first time reorganizes auditory responses in females raised without developmental song exposure. We will also perform circuit-breaking studies to test the contributions of auditory and dopamine inputs to developmental song preference learning. Together, the studies proposed here will provide us with novel insights into how experiences throughout the lifespan can modulate preference and perception as well as their neural substrates. **