Hamilton KS, King AP, Sengelaub DR, West MJ
Indiana University
Anim Behav. 1998 Oct;56(4):973-982. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1998.0848.
We assessed courtship success in 14 adult male brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater. Volumes of song control nuclei and visual nuclei were measured in Nissl stained tissue. Variation in courtship success was found to be related to variation in two areas of the avian brain: the song control nucleus, area X, and the thalamic visual area, nucleus rotundus. Volume of area X was negatively correlated with song potency, as assessed by female playback, and with rate of vocalizing. Volume of nucleus rotundus was positively correlated with song potency, vocalizing to females and courtship persistence. These data are the first to implicate a visual nucleus in the use of song. The data also complement previous findings with cowbirds suggesting that song learning involves visual attention to females. Taken as a whole, these results suggest that use of song depends on integration of auditory, vocal and visual information. In that female songbirds in many species assess multimodal performance of song, these findings with cowbirds suggest that future studies of brain and behaviour include a broader view of possible behavioural and neural correlates. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
我们评估了14只成年雄性褐头牛鹂（Molothrus ater）求偶的成功率。在尼氏染色组织中测量了鸣叫控制核团和视觉核团的体积。结果发现，求偶成功率的差异与鸟类大脑的两个区域的差异有关：鸣叫控制核团X区和丘脑视觉区域圆核。X区的体积与通过雌性回放评估的鸣叫强度以及发声频率呈负相关。圆核的体积与鸣叫强度、向雌性发声以及求偶持续时间呈正相关。这些数据首次表明一个视觉核团参与了鸣叫的运用。这些数据也补充了之前对牛鹂的研究结果，表明鸣叫学习涉及对雌性的视觉关注。总体而言，这些结果表明鸣叫的运用依赖于听觉、发声和视觉信息的整合。鉴于许多物种的雌性鸣禽会评估鸣叫的多模态表现，这些关于牛鹂的研究结果表明，未来对大脑和行为的研究应更全面地考虑可能的行为和神经关联。版权所有1998年动物行为研究协会。
