Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus, communicate with others by various sounds. About 80% of those sounds range over 20 kHz. A threshold of hearing in this range, however, was about 20 dB higher than their most sensitive frequency (1 to 16 kHz). We proposed a hypothesis that the auditory sensitivity heightened when gerbils communicated with others. In order to test the idea, a cochlear microphonics (CM) was recorded under various behavioral context as a measure of auditory sensitivity. Under paired condition, a subject was set with another gerbil. The condition simulated the subject gerbils in their group, and the subject was considered to pay attention to sounds of the company. The CM response under the situation was higher than under single situation. Then, we investigated if the CM increase was specific under the situation. Subject was trained to pay attention to a sound of conditioned stimulus by electric shock as a negative reinforcer. The sound worked as an alarm sound for gerbils. The CM response increased while the gerbil was paying attention to the sound. Those results suggest that the sensitivity of auditory periphery is raised by attention in various behavioral contexts.
Audible range for Mongolian gerbils overlaps well with one for humans. This is one of the reasons why they have been used for auditory studies. So, most of studies on gerbils have been in human audible frequency range. They live in a group and use a variety of vocalizations for their conspecific communication. Roughly 80% of the fundamental frequencies of their communication calls are found in the frequency range above 20 kHz. However, thresholds for frequencies above 20 kHz have been reported higher than those for low frequencies (from 1 kHz to 16 kHz) by as much as 20 dB. We examined how gerbils utilize ultrasonic frequency range for their important vocal communication.Findings from alert animals with paired condition showed the cochlear microphonics (CM) were amplified by 2-4 dB with ultrasonic communication calls of low sound pressure levels (from 45 dB to 60 dB p.e. SPL), while no enhancement was observed with the same calls higher than 65 dB p.e. SPL. Findings also suggested that CM responses to tone burst higher than 25 kHz demonstrated magnified amplitude under the paired condition. Data strongly imply that attention to conspecifics would increase sensitivity to ultrasonic frequency range.
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