Mice are a commonly used model in hearing research, yet little is known about how they perceive conspecific ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). Humans and birds can distinguish partial versions of a communication signal, and discrimination is superior when the beginning of the signal is present compared to the end of the signal. Since these effects occur in both humans and birds, it was hypothesized that mice would display similar facilitative effects with the initial portions of their USVs. Laboratory mice were tested on a discrimination task using operant conditioning procedures. The mice were required to discriminate incomplete versions of a USV target from a repeating background containing the whole USV. The results showed that the mice had difficulty discriminating incomplete USVs from whole USVs, especially when the beginning of the USVs were presented. This finding suggests that the mice perceive the initial portions of a USV as more similar to the whole USV than the latter parts of the USV, similar to results from humans and birds.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
December 2014
December 01 2014
Discrimination of partial from whole ultrasonic vocalizations using a go/no-go task in mice
David P. Holfoth;
David P. Holfoth
Department of Psychology,
University at Buffalo
, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260
Search for other works by this author on:
Erikson G. Neilans;
Erikson G. Neilans
Department of Psychology,
University at Buffalo
, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260
Search for other works by this author on:
Micheal L. Dent
Micheal L. Dent
a)
Department of Psychology,
University at Buffalo
, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: mdent@buffalo.edu
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 136, 3401–3409 (2014)
Article history
Received:
March 24 2014
Accepted:
October 14 2014
Citation
David P. Holfoth, Erikson G. Neilans, Micheal L. Dent; Discrimination of partial from whole ultrasonic vocalizations using a go/no-go task in mice. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 December 2014; 136 (6): 3401–3409. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4900564
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Citing articles via
A survey of sound source localization with deep learning methods
Pierre-Amaury Grumiaux, Srđan Kitić, et al.
Recommendations on bioacoustical metrics relevant for regulating exposure to anthropogenic underwater sound
Klaus Lucke, Alexander O. MacGillivray, et al.
Related Content
Discrimination of frequency modulated sweeps by mice
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (September 2016)
Call perception in mice
J Acoust Soc Am (May 2013)
The perception of ultrasonic vocalizations by laboratory mice following intense noise exposures
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (February 2024)
Discrimination of frequency-modulated sweeps by laboratory mice
J Acoust Soc Am (April 2015)
Social experience influences ultrasonic vocalization perception in laboratory mice
J Acoust Soc Am (May 2017)