1
|
Giret N, Rolland M, Del Negro C. Multisensory processes in birds: from single neurons to the influence of social interactions and sensory loss. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 143:104942. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
|
2
|
Perret A, George I, Coulon M, Cousillas H, Hausberger M, Henry L. Deprivation of direct adult contact during development affects social representation in a songbird. Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:e22207. [PMID: 34813093 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Social cognition involves a wide array of skills that are built largely through interactions with conspecifics and therefore depend upon early social experience. Motivation for social stimuli is a key feature of social behavior and an operant conditioning task showed that isolated wild-caught adult starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are highly motivated to access pictures of other starlings. Here, we show that hand-raised adult starlings maintained in groups of peers throughout development but without any contact with adult models were not or only poorly motivated to access pictures of conspecifics. Moreover, they did not prefer pictures of starlings to pictures of landscapes, unlike birds wild-caught as adults. These results raise questions about the role of social experience during development, particularly with adult models, in the development of social motivation and of social representation in general.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Audrey Perret
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Rennes, France
| | - Isabelle George
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Rennes, France
| | - Marion Coulon
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Rennes, France
| | - Hugo Cousillas
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Rennes, France
| | - Martine Hausberger
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Rennes, France
| | - Laurence Henry
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Rennes, France
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Pougnault L, Cousillas H, Heyraud C, Huber L, Hausberger M, Henry L. Experimental Tests for Measuring Individual Attentional Characteristics in Songbirds. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11082233. [PMID: 34438691 PMCID: PMC8388455 DOI: 10.3390/ani11082233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention is defined as the ability to process selectively one aspect of the environment over others and is at the core of all cognitive processes such as learning, memorization, and categorization. Thus, evaluating and comparing attentional characteristics between individuals and according to situations is an important aspect of cognitive studies. Recent studies showed the interest of analyzing spontaneous attention in standardized situations, but data are still scarce, especially for songbirds. The present study adapted three tests of attention (towards visual non-social, visual social, and auditory stimuli) as tools for future comparative research in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), a species that is well known to present individual variations in social learning or engagement. Our results reveal that attentional characteristics (glances versus gazes) vary according to the stimulus broadcasted: more gazes towards unusual visual stimuli and species-specific auditory stimuli and more glances towards species-specific visual stimuli and hetero-specific auditory stimuli. This study revealing individual variations shows that these tests constitute a very useful and easy-to-use tool for evaluating spontaneous individual attentional characteristics and their modulation by a variety of factors. Our results also indicate that attentional skills are not a uniform concept and depend upon the modality and the stimulus type.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Loïc Pougnault
- CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie Animale et Humaine)-UMR 6552, University Rennes, Normandie University, F-35000 Rennes, France; (L.P.); (H.C.); (C.H.); (M.H.)
| | - Hugo Cousillas
- CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie Animale et Humaine)-UMR 6552, University Rennes, Normandie University, F-35000 Rennes, France; (L.P.); (H.C.); (C.H.); (M.H.)
| | - Christine Heyraud
- CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie Animale et Humaine)-UMR 6552, University Rennes, Normandie University, F-35000 Rennes, France; (L.P.); (H.C.); (C.H.); (M.H.)
| | - Ludwig Huber
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria;
| | - Martine Hausberger
- CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie Animale et Humaine)-UMR 6552, University Rennes, Normandie University, F-35000 Rennes, France; (L.P.); (H.C.); (C.H.); (M.H.)
| | - Laurence Henry
- CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie Animale et Humaine)-UMR 6552, University Rennes, Normandie University, F-35000 Rennes, France; (L.P.); (H.C.); (C.H.); (M.H.)
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Keesom SM, Hurley LM. Silence, Solitude, and Serotonin: Neural Mechanisms Linking Hearing Loss and Social Isolation. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10060367. [PMID: 32545607 PMCID: PMC7349698 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10060367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 06/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
For social animals that communicate acoustically, hearing loss and social isolation are factors that independently influence social behavior. In human subjects, hearing loss may also contribute to objective and subjective measures of social isolation. Although the behavioral relationship between hearing loss and social isolation is evident, there is little understanding of their interdependence at the level of neural systems. Separate lines of research have shown that social isolation and hearing loss independently target the serotonergic system in the rodent brain. These two factors affect both presynaptic and postsynaptic measures of serotonergic anatomy and function, highlighting the sensitivity of serotonergic pathways to both types of insult. The effects of deficits in both acoustic and social inputs are seen not only within the auditory system, but also in other brain regions, suggesting relatively extensive effects of these deficits on serotonergic regulatory systems. Serotonin plays a much-studied role in depression and anxiety, and may also influence several aspects of auditory cognition, including auditory attention and understanding speech in challenging listening conditions. These commonalities suggest that serotonergic pathways are worthy of further exploration as potential intervening mechanisms between the related conditions of hearing loss and social isolation, and the affective and cognitive dysfunctions that follow.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M. Keesom
- Department of Biology, Utica College, Utica, NY 13502, USA
- Correspondence:
| | - Laura M. Hurley
- Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA;
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Belin L, Formanek L, Heyraud C, Hausberger M, Henry L. Influence of early experience on processing 2D threatening pictures by European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Anim Cogn 2018; 21:749-758. [PMID: 30132155 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-018-1207-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Revised: 06/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laurine Belin
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35000, Rennes, France
| | - Laureline Formanek
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35000, Rennes, France
| | - Christine Heyraud
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35000, Rennes, France
| | - Martine Hausberger
- CNRS, Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35380, Paimpont, France
| | - Laurence Henry
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35000, Rennes, France.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Keesom SM, Sloss BG, Erbowor-Becksen Z, Hurley LM. Social experience alters socially induced serotonergic fluctuations in the inferior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:3230-3241. [DOI: 10.1152/jn.00431.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2017] [Revised: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 08/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Past social experience and current social context shape the responses of animals to social signals. The serotonergic system is one potential mechanism by which both experiential and contextual factors could be conveyed to sensory systems, such as the auditory system, for multiple reasons. 1) Many features of the serotonergic system are sensitive to social experience. 2) Elevations in serotonergic activity are triggered by social partners, and variations in socially triggered serotonergic responses reflect behavioral differences among social encounters. 3) Serotonin is an auditory neuromodulator, altering how auditory neurons respond to sounds including conspecific vocalizations. In this study, we tested how social experience influences the socially triggered serotonergic response in the inferior colliculus, an auditory midbrain region with an important role in vocalization processing. We used carbon fiber voltammetry to measure serotonin during social interactions of male mice ( Mus musculus) from different social backgrounds: 4 weeks of grouped or individual housing. When paired with an unfamiliar male, both group-housed and individually housed males demonstrated elevations in serotonin; however, individually housed males exhibited socially triggered serotonergic responses with delayed time courses compared with the group-housed males. Furthermore, group-housed males displayed previously described correlations between the socially triggered serotonergic response and behaviors such as social investigation. In contrast, individually housed males did not show these serotonin-behavior relationships. These results suggest that social experience gained via social housing may shape the ability of the central serotonergic system to encode social context in sensory regions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We demonstrate that past social experience influences the fidelity with which the serotonergic system represents social context in an auditory region. Social experience altered the time course of socially triggered serotonergic responses and changed how the serotonergic system reflects behavioral variations among social encounters of the same context. These findings are significant to the study of communication, suggesting that centralized neuromodulatory systems potentially convey integrated information regarding past experience and current context to primary sensory regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M. Keesom
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
| | | | | | - Laura M. Hurley
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Social visual contact, a primary “drive” for social animals? Anim Cogn 2015; 18:657-66. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-015-0834-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2014] [Revised: 12/19/2014] [Accepted: 01/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
|
8
|
Guellai B, Mersad K, Streri A. Suprasegmental information affects processing of talking faces at birth. Infant Behav Dev 2014; 38:11-9. [PMID: 25531944 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2014] [Revised: 09/29/2014] [Accepted: 11/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
From birth, newborns show a preference for faces talking a native language compared to silent faces. The present study addresses two questions that remained unanswered by previous research: (a) Does the familiarity with the language play a role in this process and (b) Are all the linguistic and paralinguistic cues necessary in this case? Experiment 1 extended newborns' preference for native speakers to non-native ones. Given that fetuses and newborns are sensitive to the prosodic characteristics of speech, Experiments 2 and 3 presented faces talking native and nonnative languages with the speech stream being low-pass filtered. Results showed that newborns preferred looking at a person who talked to them even when only the prosodic cues were provided for both languages. Nonetheless, a familiarity preference for the previously talking face is observed in the "normal speech" condition (i.e., Experiment 1) and a novelty preference in the "filtered speech" condition (Experiments 2 and 3). This asymmetry reveals that newborns process these two types of stimuli differently and that they may already be sensitive to a mismatch between the articulatory movements of the face and the corresponding speech sounds.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bahia Guellai
- Laboratoire Ethologie Cognition Développement (LECD), Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (UPOND), Nanterre, France.
| | - Karima Mersad
- Université Paris Descartes, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception (LPP), UMR CNRS 8158, Centre Biomédical des Saints-Pères, Paris, France
| | - Arlette Streri
- Centre d'Etudes Atomiques-Neurospin-INSERM, Gif/Yvette, France
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Abstract
Songbirds have unique value as a model for memory and learning. In their natural social life, they communicate through vocalizations that they must learn to produce and recognize. Song communication elicits abrupt changes in gene expression in regions of the forebrain responsible for song perception and production--what is the functional significance of this genomic response? For 20 years, the focus of research was on just a few genes [primarily ZENK, now known as egr1 (early gene response 1)]. Recently, however, DNA microarrays have been developed and applied to songbird behavioral research, and in 2010 the initial draft assembly of the zebra finch genome was published. Together, these new data reveal that the genomic involvement in song processing is far more complex than anticipated. The concepts of neurogenomic computation and biological embedding are introduced as frameworks for future research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David F Clayton
- Biological and Experimental Psychology Division, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom;
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
George I, Cousillas H. How social experience shapes song representation in the brain of starlings. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 107:170-7. [PMID: 23266573 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2012.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2012] [Revised: 10/02/2012] [Accepted: 12/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Birdsong, like speech, is a learned behaviour whose critical function is to communicate with others and whose development critically depends on social influences. Song learning is a complex phenomenon that involves not only the development of species-specific vocalisations, but also the development of the ability to organise these vocalisations and to use them in an appropriate context. Although the fact that interactions with adult experienced models are essential for song production to develop properly has been well established, far less is known about song perception and processing. The fact that songbirds learn to vocalise and to use their vocalisations selectively through interactions with adults questions whether such interactions are also required for songbirds to perceive and process their vocalisations selectively and whether social interactions may shape song perception and processing as they shape song production. In order to address these questions, our team uses an original neuroethological approach to study the neural bases of song behaviour in a highly social songbird species: the European starlings. We provide here a synthesis of the results we have obtained using this approach over the last decade. Our results show that direct social experience with adult experienced models not only shapes song behaviour but also shapes these songbirds' brains and their ability to perceive and to process acoustic signals whose communicative value, as well as their acoustic structure, have to be learned.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle George
- UMR 6552, Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Université Rennes 1, CNRS, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes cedex, France.
| | | |
Collapse
|