Karwicka Wiktoria, Wiatrowska Marta, Kondrakiewicz Kacper, Knapska Ewelina, Kursa Miron Bartosz, Hamed Adam
Laboratory of Spatial Memory, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY-Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
Brain Sci. 2021 Jun 8;11(6):759. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11060759.
Ultrasonic vocalizations are among the oldest evolutionarily forms of animal communication. In order to study the communication patterns in an aversive social situation, we used a behavioral model in which one animal, the observer, is witnessing as his cagemate, the demonstrator, is experiencing a series of mild electrical foot shocks. We studied the effect of the foot shock experience on the observer and the influence of a warning sound (emitted shortly before the shock) on USV communication. These experiments revealed that such a warning seems to increase the arousal level, which differentiates the responses depending on previous experience. This can be identified by the emission of characteristic, short 22 kHz calls of a duration below 100 ms. Two rats emitted calls that overlapped in time. Analysis of these overlaps revealed that in 'warned' pairs with a naive observer, 22 kHz calls were mixed with 50 kHz calls. This fact, combined with a high fraction of very high-pitched 50 kHz calls (over 75 kHz), suggests the presence of the phenomenon of social buffering. Pure 22 kHz overlaps were mostly found in 'warned' pairs with an experienced observer, suggesting a possible fear contagion with distress sharing. The results show the importance of dividing 22 kHz calls into long and short categories.
超声发声是动物交流中最古老的进化形式之一。为了研究厌恶社会情境中的交流模式，我们使用了一种行为模型，其中一只动物（观察者）目睹其同笼伙伴（示范者）经历一系列轻微的足部电击。我们研究了足部电击经历对观察者的影响以及警告声（电击前不久发出）对超声发声交流的影响。这些实验表明，这样的警告似乎会提高唤醒水平，这使得反应因先前的经历而有所不同。这可以通过发出特征性的、持续时间低于100毫秒的22千赫兹短叫声来识别。两只大鼠发出的叫声在时间上有重叠。对这些重叠部分的分析表明，在有天真观察者的“有警告”组中，22千赫兹的叫声与50千赫兹的叫声混合在一起。这一事实，再加上高比例的非常高音调的50千赫兹叫声（超过75千赫兹），表明存在社会缓冲现象。纯22千赫兹的重叠大多出现在有经验观察者的“有警告”组中，表明可能存在伴有痛苦分担的恐惧传染。结果表明将22千赫兹的叫声分为长叫声和短叫声的重要性。
