Neural mechanisms of social preferences

声音交流是广泛物种的社会行为的一个组成部分。为了使通信系统发挥作用，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焦点。 然而，感知不是静态的，而是可以通过发展和成人经验来塑造和调节的。特别是，最近在哺乳动物听觉系统的研究已经强调了如何发展和成人的声学经验可以影响神经反应和听觉皮层中的单个神经元的感受野。神经递质多巴胺被认为对神经反应中的这些可塑性变化有重要意义。 例如，社交和感官体验似乎可以调节听觉皮层内神经递质多巴胺的水平，而多巴胺能神经元的刺激会导致行为相关的显著刺激的可塑性和编码的变化。我的研究的长期目标是整合这两个研究方向，特别是，研究神经反应的可塑性和神经调节信号的重要性择偶和偏好。我们在一只雌性鸣禽斑胸草雀（zebra finch）中研究了这一点，在那里，雌性对歌曲的偏好已经有了很好的记录，并且神经基质易于监测和操纵。 使用神经生理学，药理学和免疫组织化学方法相结合，我将研究感知和偏好的神经机制，以及它们是如何通过鸣禽的社会和感官经验塑造的。特别是，我们将调查多巴胺和发展经验介导的社会相关的刺激通过两个广泛的目标的处理变化的程度。对于目标1，我们将研究多巴胺调节神经对不同吸引力的声音刺激的反应的程度。 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，我们将研究听觉和多巴胺神经元对社会调制歌曲的反应的发展轨迹，并研究第一次听到歌曲如何重组没有发育歌曲暴露的女性的听觉反应。 我们还将进行电路断路研究，以测试听觉和多巴胺输入的发展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，了解整个生命周期的经验如何调节偏好和感知以及它们的神经基质。

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.