Active Touch Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
Dev Psychobiol. 2012 Mar;54(2):151-68. doi: 10.1002/dev.20591. Epub 2011 Aug 23.
Adult rats sweep their large facial whiskers (macrovibrissae) back and forth in a rhythmic pattern known as "whisking". Here we examine how these whisker movements develop in relation to other aspects of exploratory behavior, particularly locomotion. We analyzed 963 high-speed video recordings of neonatal rats, from P1 (Post-natal day 1) to P21, and measured the emergence of whisker control and of head, body, and limb movements. Prior to P11, whisker movements were largely limited to unilateral retractions accompanying head turns. Between P11 and P13 bilateral whisking emerged alongside increased forward locomotion and improved control of the head. Contact-induced modulations of whisking symmetry, synchrony, and whisker spread emerge shortly thereafter but continue to develop until at least P18, coinciding with the emergence of adult-like locomotion patterns such as rearing. Overall, whisking develops alongside increasing locomotor competence indicating that active vibrissal sensing plays an important role in the exploratory behavior of the developing animal.
成年大鼠以一种被称为“扫动”的节律性模式来回扫动它们的大面须（macrovibrissae）。在这里，我们研究了这些胡须运动如何与其他探索行为方面相关发展，特别是运动。我们分析了从 P1（出生后第 1 天）到 P21 的 963 个新生大鼠的高速视频记录，并测量了胡须控制以及头部、身体和四肢运动的出现。在 P11 之前，胡须运动主要限于伴随头部转动的单侧回缩。在 P11 和 P13 之间，双侧扫动伴随着向前运动的增加和头部控制的改善而出现。接触诱导的对称性、同步性和胡须扩散的调制很快出现，但仍在继续发展，直到至少 P18，这与成年样的运动模式的出现相吻合，例如后肢站立。总体而言，胡须的发展伴随着运动能力的提高，这表明主动的触须感知在发育动物的探索行为中起着重要作用。
