Spatially clustered neurons encode vocalization categories in the bat midbrain

Lawlor, Jennifer; Wohlgemuth, Melville J.; Moss, Cynthia F.; Kuchibhotla, Kishore V.

doi:10.1101/2023.06.14.545029

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 43 publications

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“…In mice, many neurons in the low frequency (presumably dorsal) IC regions respond strongly to vocalizations (Portfors et al, 2009). AM features significantly shape the vocalization selectivity in some of these neurons (Holmstrom et al, 2010), and prominent selectivity to ethologically relevant signals is also observed in the shell IC of bats, rats and gerbils (Holmstrom et al, 2007;Gao et al, 2015;Lawlor et al, 2023). In tandem with our current results, these data imply that a shell IC neural population play important roles in processing and integrating vocal signals, thereby shedding light on the perceptual building blocks of behavioral responses in vocal communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population coding of time-varying sounds in the non-lemniscal Inferior Colliculus

Shi,

Quass,

Rogalla

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The inferior colliculus (IC) of the midbrain is important for complex sound processing, such as discriminating conspecific vocalizations and human speech. The non-lemniscal, dorsal shell region of IC is likely important for this process, as neurons in these layers project to higher-order thalamic nuclei that subsequently funnel acoustic signals to the amygdala and non-primary auditory cortices; forebrain circuits important for vocalization coding in a variety of mammals, including humans. However, the extent to which shell IC neurons transmit acoustic features necessary to discern vocalizations is less clear, owing to the technical difficulty of recording from neurons in the IC superficial layers via traditional approaches. Here we use 2-photon Ca2+ imaging in mice of either sex to test how shell IC neuron populations encode the rate and depth of amplitude modulation, important sound cues for speech perception. Most shell IC neurons were broadly tuned, with a low neurometric discrimination of amplitude modulation rate; only a subset were highly selective to specific modulation rates. Nevertheless, neural network classifier trained on fluorescence data from shell IC neuron populations accurately classified amplitude modulation rate, and decoding accuracy was only marginally reduced when highly tuned neurons were omitted from training data. Rather, classifier accuracy increased monotonically with the modulation depth of the training data, such that classifiers trained on full-depth modulated sounds had median decoding errors of ~0.2 octaves. Thus, shell IC neurons may transmit time-varying signals via a population code, with perhaps limited reliance on the discriminative capacity of any individual neuron.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population coding of time-varying sounds in the non-lemniscal Inferior Colliculus

Shi,

Quass,

Rogalla

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Early auditory and adult mating experiences interact with singer identity to shape neural responses to song in female zebra finches

Catalano,

Woolley

2024

Preprint

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Social and sensory experiences across the lifespan can shape social interactions, however, experience-dependent plasticity is widely studied within discrete life stages. In the socially monogamous zebra finch, in which females use learned vocal signals to identify individuals and form long-lasting pair bonds, developmental exposure to song is key for females to show species-typical song perception and preferences. While adult mating experience can still lead to pair-bonding and song preference learning even in birds with limited previous song exposure ("song-naive"), whether similarities in adult behavioral plasticity between normally-reared and song-naive females reflect convergent patterns of neural activity is unknown. We investigated this using expression of a marker of neural activity and plasticity (phosphorylated S6) in mated normally-reared and song-naive females in response to song from either their mate, a neighbor, or an unfamiliar male. We found that in portions of a secondary auditory region (the caudomedial nidopallium NCM) and in dopaminergic neurons of the caudal ventral tegmental area hearing the mate's song significantly increased pS6 expression in females from both rearing conditions. In contrast, within other NCM subregions, song-identity drove different patterns of pS6 expression depending on the rearing condition. These data suggest that developmental experiences can have long-lasting impacts on the neural signatures of behaviors acquired in adulthood and that socially-driven behavioral plasticity in adults may arise through both shared and divergent neural circuits depending on an individual's developmental experiences.

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Spatially clustered neurons encode vocalization categories in the bat midbrain

Cited by 2 publications

References 43 publications

Population coding of time-varying sounds in the non-lemniscal Inferior Colliculus

Population coding of time-varying sounds in the non-lemniscal Inferior Colliculus

Early auditory and adult mating experiences interact with singer identity to shape neural responses to song in female zebra finches

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