structure of rat ultrasonic vocalizations and its relevance to behavior老鼠的超声叫声及其结构与行为之间的关系.pdf

Structure of Rat Ultrasonic Vocalizations and Its Relevance to Behavior Nobuaki Takahashi1,2,3*, Makio Kashino1,2, Naoyuki Hironaka1,2 1 NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Atsugi-shi, Japan, 2 Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi-shi, Japan, 3 Graduate School of Humanities, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya-shi, Japan Abstract Rats are known to emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). These USVs have been hypothesized to hold biological meaning, and the relationship between USVs and behavior has been extensively studied. However, most of these studies looked at specific conditions, such as fear-inducing situations and sexual encounters. In the present experiment, the USVs of pairs of rats in ordinary housing conditions were recorded and their features were examined. Three clusters of USVs in the 25-, 40-, and 60-kHz range were detected, which roughly corresponded to fighting, feeding, and moving, respectively. We analyzed sequential combinations of two or more clusters using a state transition model. The results revealed a more specific correspondence between the USVs and behaviors, suggesting that rat USV may work as a type of communication tool. Citation: Takahashi N, Kashino M, Hironaka N (2010) Structure of Rat Ultrasonic Vocalizations and Its Relevance to Behavior. PLoS ONE 5(11): e14115. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0014115 Editor: Sharon Gursky-Doyen, Texas AM University, United States of America Received May 10, 2010; Accepted October 29, 2010; Published November 29, 2010 Copyright: 2010 Takahashi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, whi