Mouse vocal communication system: are ultrasounds learned or innate?
- PMID: 23295209
- PMCID: PMC3886250
- DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.10.002
Mouse vocal communication system: are ultrasounds learned or innate?
Abstract
Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are often used as behavioral readouts of internal states, to measure effects of social and pharmacological manipulations, and for behavioral phenotyping of mouse models for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. However, little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms of rodent USV production. Here we discuss the available data to assess whether male mouse song behavior and the supporting brain circuits resemble those of known vocal non-learning or vocal learning species. Recent neurobiology studies have demonstrated that the mouse USV brain system includes motor cortex and striatal regions, and that the vocal motor cortex sends a direct sparse projection to the brainstem vocal motor nucleus ambiguous, a projection previously thought be unique to humans among mammals. Recent behavioral studies have reported opposing conclusions on mouse vocal plasticity, including vocal ontogeny changes in USVs over early development that might not be explained by innate maturation processes, evidence for and against a role for auditory feedback in developing and maintaining normal mouse USVs, and evidence for and against limited vocal imitation of song pitch. To reconcile these findings, we suggest that the trait of vocal learning may not be dichotomous but encompass a broad spectrum of behavioral and neural traits we call the continuum hypothesis, and that mice possess some of the traits associated with a capacity for limited vocal learning.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Figures








Similar articles
-
Of mice, birds, and men: the mouse ultrasonic song system has some features similar to humans and song-learning birds.PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e46610. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046610. Epub 2012 Oct 10. PLoS One. 2012. PMID: 23071596 Free PMC article.
-
Vocal learning in elephants: neural bases and adaptive context.Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014 Oct;28:101-7. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.07.001. Epub 2014 Jul 23. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014. PMID: 25062469 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Mice lacking the cerebral cortex develop normal song: insights into the foundations of vocal learning.Sci Rep. 2015 Mar 6;5:8808. doi: 10.1038/srep08808. Sci Rep. 2015. PMID: 25744204 Free PMC article.
-
The role of auditory feedback in vocal learning and maintenance.Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2012 Apr;22(2):320-7. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.11.006. Epub 2011 Dec 1. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2012. PMID: 22137567 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Songbird: a unique animal model for studying the molecular basis of disorders of vocal development and communication.Exp Anim. 2015;64(3):221-30. doi: 10.1538/expanim.15-0008. Epub 2015 Apr 24. Exp Anim. 2015. PMID: 25912323 Free PMC article. Review.
Cited by
-
Context-dependent activation of a social behavior brain network during learned vocal production.Brain Struct Funct. 2023 Sep;228(7):1785-1797. doi: 10.1007/s00429-023-02693-0. Epub 2023 Aug 24. Brain Struct Funct. 2023. PMID: 37615758
-
Degraded speech sound processing in a rat model of fragile X syndrome.Brain Res. 2014 May 20;1564:72-84. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.03.049. Epub 2014 Apr 5. Brain Res. 2014. PMID: 24713347 Free PMC article.
-
Brainstem control of vocalization and its coordination with respiration.Science. 2024 Mar 8;383(6687):eadi8081. doi: 10.1126/science.adi8081. Epub 2024 Mar 8. Science. 2024. PMID: 38452069 Free PMC article.
-
Functional Ontogeny of Hypothalamic Agrp Neurons in Neonatal Mouse Behaviors.Cell. 2019 Jun 27;178(1):44-59.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.04.026. Epub 2019 May 16. Cell. 2019. PMID: 31104844 Free PMC article.
-
A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas.PLoS One. 2022 Aug 10;17(8):e0271871. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271871. eCollection 2022. PLoS One. 2022. PMID: 35947550 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Aitken PG. Cortical control of conditioned and spontaneous vocal behavior in rhesus monkeys. Brain and Language. 1981;13(1):171–184. - PubMed
-
- Bass AH, McKibben JR. Neural mechanisms and behaviors for acoustic communication in teleost fish. Progress in Neurobiology. 2003;69(1):1–26. - PubMed
-
- Berquist SW, Ho JP, Metzner W. Sound production in the isolated mouse larynx. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting; San Diego. 2010. Aug 23,
-
- Bottjer SW, Halsema KA, Brown SA, Miesner EA. Axonal connections of a forebrain nucleus involved with vocal learning in zebra finches. The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 1989;279(2):312–326. - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Miscellaneous