The sound of silence: Sex and individual differences in rat ultrasonic vocalisation

IF 2.3 3区心理学 Q2 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Behavioural Brain Research Pub Date : 2025-09-13 DOI:10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115823

Sophia Marie Quante , Elena Groneberg , Sylvia Kaiser , S. Helene Richter

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Rats produce a diverse repertoire of ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs) that, despite their inaudibility to the human ear, have been widely studied in behavioural research. Besides alarm calls in the 22-kHz range, research has also focussed on the play-associated 50-kHz range, typically examining overall calling rates in males. However, evidence for sex and individual differences in rat USVs has accumulated in recent years. Building up on this work, we here aimed to further explore sex and individual differences in rats’ vocal response during human-induced play behaviour, a context often used to study rat vocalisation. Specifically, we investigated calling rates across different 50-kHz and 22-kHz call subtypes and additionally analysed the sequence of used call subtypes, offering novel insights into the complexity of rat vocalisation. In line with recent work on rats’ USV emission during play, male rats vocalised more than females. Moreover, calling rates per call subtype showed temporally stable inter-individual differences. Additionally, individual differences were found regarding call subtype sequence, pointing towards the existence of “vocal fingerprints”. Thus, in line with previous knowledge on rat USVs, the present study supports the trend of individual specific research in the field of behavioural biology.

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沉默之声：大鼠超声波发声的性别和个体差异。

尽管人耳听不见老鼠发出的各种各样的超声波（usv），但它们在行为研究中得到了广泛的研究。除了22千赫范围内的警报叫声外，研究还集中在与玩耍相关的50千赫范围内，通常检查雄性的总体叫声率。然而，近年来关于大鼠usv的性别和个体差异的证据越来越多。在这项工作的基础上，我们的目标是进一步探索在人类诱导的游戏行为中，老鼠声音反应的性别和个体差异，这通常用于研究老鼠的发声。具体来说，我们研究了不同50-kHz和22-kHz呼叫亚型的呼叫率，并分析了使用的呼叫亚型的序列，为大鼠发声的复杂性提供了新的见解。根据最近对老鼠在玩耍时发出的USV的研究，雄性老鼠比雌性老鼠发出更多的声音。此外，每个呼叫亚型的呼叫率表现出暂时稳定的个体间差异。此外，在呼叫亚型序列上存在个体差异，表明存在“声指纹”。因此，与以往对大鼠usv的认识一致，本研究支持了行为生物学领域个体特异性研究的趋势。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Behavioural Brain Research 医学-行为科学

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

383

审稿时长

61 days

期刊介绍： Behavioural Brain Research is an international, interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the publication of articles in the field of behavioural neuroscience, broadly defined. Contributions from the entire range of disciplines that comprise the neurosciences, behavioural sciences or cognitive sciences are appropriate, as long as the goal is to delineate the neural mechanisms underlying behaviour. Thus, studies may range from neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, neurochemical or neuropharmacological analysis of brain-behaviour relations, including the use of molecular genetic or behavioural genetic approaches, to studies that involve the use of brain imaging techniques, to neuroethological studies. Reports of original research, of major methodological advances, or of novel conceptual approaches are all encouraged. The journal will also consider critical reviews on selected topics.