Cupid’s quiver: Integrating sensory cues in rodent mating systems

Abstract

In many animal species, males and females exploit different mating strategies, display sex-typical behaviors, and use distinct systems to recognize ethologically relevant cues. Mate selection thus requires mutual recognition across diverse social interactions based on distinct sensory signals. These sex differences in courtship and mating behaviors correspond to differences in sensory systems and downstream neural substrates engaged to recognize and respond to courtship signals. In many rodents, males tend to rely heavily on volatile olfactory and pheromone cues, while females appear to be guided more by a combination of these chemosensory signals with acoustic cues in the form of ultrasonic vocalizations. The mechanisms by which chemical and acoustic cues are integrated to control behavior are understudied in mating but are known to be important in the control of maternal behaviors. Socially monogamous species constitute a behaviorally distinct group of rodents. In these species, anatomic differences between males and females outside the nervous system are less prominent than in species with non-monogamous mating systems, and both sexes engage in more symmetric social behaviors and form attachments. Nevertheless, despite the apparent similarities in behaviors displayed by monogamous males and females, the circuitry supporting social, mating, and attachment behaviors in these species is increasingly thought to differ between the sexes. Sex differences in sensory modalities most important for mate recognition in across species are of particular interest and present a wealth of questions yet to be answered. Here, we discuss how distinct sensory cues may be integrated to drive social and attachment behaviors in rodents, and the differing roles of specific sensory systems in eliciting displays of behavior by females or males.

The parental umwelt: Effects of parenthood on sensory processing in rodents

“…Detection, discrimination, and processing of stimuli in a particular sensory modality can be modulated by input in another modality, 118,178,179 with information from different sensory systems potentially having additive, synergistic, or inhibitory effects 180 . The integration of information from two or more sensory modalities “can increase the accuracy of an animal's response to a salient event, decrease reaction time, expand the complexity of social information available, and form a unique multimodal percept, distinct from the component unisensory cues” (Hoglen & Manoli, p. 7) 181 …”

“…180 The integration of information from two or more sensory modalities "can increase the accuracy of an animal's response to a salient event, decrease reaction time, expand the complexity of social information available, and form a unique multimodal percept, distinct from the component unisensory cues" (Hoglen & Manoli, p. 7). 181 Interactions among sensory modalities can take place at multiple neural levels, including subcortical structures, primary and secondary sensory cortices, 180,182,183 and, potentially, the peripheral nervous system, 184 and can occur between or within brain structures and even within individual neurones. 180,182 Importantly, multisensory integration is highly plastic both developmentally across the lifespan and acutely as a result of experience.…”

Top-down, auditory pallial regulation of the social behavior network

“…It has long been known that SBN nuclei respond to all major sensory modalities tested (e.g., olfaction: (3)(4)(5); auditory: (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11); somatosensory: (12)(13)(14); visual: (15)(16)(17)), suggesting that rich connections with sensory systems are a critical aspect of how these nuclei participate in the control of social behavior (18,19). Social stimulus selectivity in sensory processing areas (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26), taken together with the rich sensory representations in the SBN laid out above, appear to blur the lines between regions delineated as strictly sensory processing and those that control social behavior (18).…”