Right ear advantage for vocal communication in frogs results from both structural asymmetry and attention modulation

Fang, Guangzhan; Xue, Fei; Cui, Jianguo; Brauth, Steven E.; Tang, Yezhong

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.02.042

Cited by 15 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Explication of anuran vocal/auditory lateralization should entail behavioral tests for side preferences in conjunction with study of the physiological processes directly reflecting ongoing brain activities, such as EEG and/or positron emission tomography (PET). Pertinent to this, we previously conducted an electrophysiological study demonstrating a right ear/left brain advantage in auditory processing in this species (Fang et al, 2014b), supporting the present behavioral results.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This may be attributed to the fact that music frogs live on the ground and prefer responding to sounds varying in azimuth in contrast to arboreal frogs, which must process sounds varying both azimuthally and vertically. Previous electrophysiological studies in the Emei music frog have supported the idea that lateralization of processing of conspecific vocal signals occurs in this species (Fang et al, , 2014b(Fang et al, , 2012. These studies report that power in the EEG bands of the left hemisphere, especially of the left mesencephalon, tends to be greater or to change significantly compared with that of the right in response to conspecific call stimulation.…”

Section: Rea Behaviors Correspond To Known Neural Lateralization Pattmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…The tanks were placed in a room under controlled temperature (23±1°C) and relative humidity (70-80%) with a 12 h:12 h light:dark cycle (lights on at 08:00 h) using a fluorescent lamp. The animals were fed live crickets (bought from a pet food shop) every 3 days according to our previous study (Fang et al, , 2014b(Fang et al, , 2012Yang et al, 2014). About 50 crickets were provided to each box, not all of which were eaten.…”

Section: Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phonotaxis experiments have shown that 70% of female Babina prefer calls produced from within the burrows, which are hence more highly sexually attractive (HSA) than those produced from outside the burrows, which are less sexually attractive (LSA) and the male Babina prefer competing vocally with HSA calls rather than with LSA calls (Fang et al, 2014a). Electrophysiological studies show that relative power in the alpha, delta and beta bands declines or increases with time in the left but not right mesencephalon, with the most notable changes occurring during playbacks of HSA calls (Fang et al, 2014b). As the anuran midbrain receives auditory information derived primarily from the contralateral auditory nerve (Wilczynski, 1988;Wilczynski and Endepols, 2006), our results support the idea that REA is brought about by structural asymmetry superimposed with attention modulation (Fang et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Electrophysiological studies show that relative power in the alpha, delta and beta bands declines or increases with time in the left but not right mesencephalon, with the most notable changes occurring during playbacks of HSA calls (Fang et al, 2014b). As the anuran midbrain receives auditory information derived primarily from the contralateral auditory nerve (Wilczynski, 1988;Wilczynski and Endepols, 2006), our results support the idea that REA is brought about by structural asymmetry superimposed with attention modulation (Fang et al, 2014b). However, behavioral evidence is required to test the theory that REA occurs in frogs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The biological significance of acoustic stimuli determines ear preference in the music frog

Xue

Fang

Zhao

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Behavioral and neurophysiological studies support the idea that right ear advantage (REA) exists for perception of conspecific vocal signals in birds and mammals. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on anuran species that typically communicate through vocalization. The present study examined the direction and latencies of orientation behaviors in Emei music frogs (Babina daunchina) produced in response to six auditory stimuli emitted by a speaker placed directly behind the subjects. The stimuli included male advertisement calls produced from within burrow nests, which have been shown to be highly sexually attractive (HSA), calls produced from outside burrows, which are of low sexual attractiveness (LSA), screech calls produced when frogs are attacked by snakes, white noise, thunder and silence. For all sound stimuli except the screech, the frogs preferentially turned to the right. Right ear preference was strongest for HSA calls. For the screech and thunder stimuli, there was an increased tendency for subjects to move further from the speaker rather than turning. These results support the idea that in anurans, right ear preference is associated with perception of positive or neutral signals such as the conspecific advertisement call and white noise, while a left ear preference is associated with perception of negative signals such as predatory attack.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Rea Behaviors Correspond To Known Neural Lateralization Pattmentioning

confidence: 74%