neural correlates of threat perception neural equivalence of conspecific and heterospecific mobbing calls is learned神经的相关威胁感知神经同种的等价和heterospecific侵扰是后天习得的.pdfVIP

Neural Correlates of Threat Perception: Neural Equivalence of Conspecific and Heterospecific Mobbing Calls Is Learned 1 1 1 2 3 Marc T. Avey , Marisa Hoeschele , Michele K. Moscicki , Laurie L. Bloomfield , Christopher B. Sturdy * 1 Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2 Department of Psychology, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, 3 Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Abstract Songbird auditory areas (i.e., CMM and NCM) are preferentially activated to playback of conspecific vocalizations relative to heterospecific and arbitrary noise [1–2]. Here, we asked if the neural response to auditory stimulation is not simply preferential for conspecific vocalizations but also for the information conveyed by the vocalization. Black-capped chickadees use their chick-a-dee mobbing call to recruit conspecifics and other avian species to mob perched predators [3]. Mobbing calls produced in response to smaller, higher-threat predators contain more ‘‘D’’ notes compared to those produced in response to larger, lower-threat predators and thus convey the degree of threat of predators [4]. We specifically asked whether the neural response varies with the degree of threat conveyed by the mobbing calls of chickadees and whether the neural response is the same for actual predator calls that correspond to the degree of threat of the chickadee mobbing calls. Our results demonstrate that, as degree of threat increases in conspecific chickadee mobbing calls, there is a corresponding increase in immediate early gene (IEG) expression in telencephalic auditory areas. We also demonst