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Sensory-motor interactions modulate a primate vocal behavior: antiphonal calling in common marmosets

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Abstract

A fundamental issue in neuroscience pertains to how different cortical systems interact to generate behavior. One of the most direct ways to address this issue is to investigate how sensory information is encoded and used to produce a motor response. Antiphonal calling is a natural vocal behavior that involves individuals producing their species-specific long distance vocalization in response to hearing the same call and engages both the auditory and motor systems, as well as the cognitive neural systems involved in decision making and categorization. Here we present results from a series of behavioral experiments investigating the auditory–vocal interactions during antiphonal calling in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). We manipulated sensory input by placing subjects in different social contexts and found that the auditory input had a significant effect on call timing and propensity to call. Playback experiments tested the significance of the timing of vocal production in antiphonal calling and showed that a short latency between antiphonal calls was necessary to maintain reciprocal vocal interactions. Overall, this study shows that sensory-motor interactions can be experimentally induced and manipulated in a natural primate vocal behavior. Antiphonal calling represents a promising model system to examine these issues in non-human primates at both the behavioral and neural levels.

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Abbreviations

CM:

Cagemate

HVC:

High vocal center

NCM:

Non-cagemate

NCM-OS:

Non-cagemate of the opposite sex

NCM-SS:

Non-cagemate of the same sex

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Acknowledgements

We thank Audrey DiMauro, Kate Mandel, Kate Rydstrom, Ambica Tumkur, and Ray Wang for their help in running these experiments. This research was supported by NIH grants F32 DC007022 (CTM) and R01 DC 005808 (XW). These experiments comply with the ‘Principles of Animal Care’, Publication No. 86–23, revised 1985, of the National Institutes of Health. All experimental protocols were approved by the Johns Hopkins University Animal Use and Care Committee.

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  1. Laboratory of Auditory Neurophysiology,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 720 Rutland Ave, Traylor 412, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Cory T. Miller & Xiaoqin Wang

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  1. Cory T. Miller
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  2. Xiaoqin Wang
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Correspondence to Cory T. Miller.

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Miller, C.T., Wang, X. Sensory-motor interactions modulate a primate vocal behavior: antiphonal calling in common marmosets. J Comp Physiol A 192, 27–38 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0043-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0043-z

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