@article {48160, title = {Machine vision methods for analyzing social interactions.}, journal = {The Journal of Experimental Biology}, volume = {220}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jan 01}, pages = {25-34}, abstract = {

Recent developments in machine vision methods for automatic, quantitative analysis of social behavior have immensely improved both the scale and level of resolution with which we can dissect interactions between members of the same species. In this paper, we review these methods, with a particular focus on how biologists can apply them to their own work. We discuss several components of machine vision-based analyses: methods to record high-quality video for automated analyses, video-based tracking algorithms for estimating the positions of interacting animals, and machine learning methods for recognizing patterns of interactions. These methods are extremely general in their applicability, and we review a subset of successful applications of them to biological questions in several model systems with very different types of social behaviors.

}, issn = {1477-9145}, doi = {10.1242/jeb.142281}, author = {Robie, Alice A and Seagraves, Kelly M and Egnor, S E Roian and Branson, Kristin} } @article {47259, title = {The contribution of ultrasonic vocalizations to mouse courtship.}, journal = {Current Opinion in Neurobiology}, volume = {38}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 11}, pages = {1-5}, abstract = {

Vocalizations transmit information to social partners, and mice use these signals to exchange information during courtship. Ultrasonic vocalizations from adult males are tightly associated with their interactions with females, and vary as a function of male quality. Work in the last decade has established that the spectrotemporal features of male vocalizations are not learned, but that female attention toward specific vocal features is modified by social experience. Additionally, progress has been made on elucidating how mouse vocalizations are encoded in the auditory system, and on the olfactory circuits that trigger their production. Together these findings provide us with important insights into how vocal communication can contribute to social interactions.

}, issn = {1873-6882}, doi = {10.1016/j.conb.2015.12.009}, author = {Egnor, Se Roian and Seagraves, Kelly M} } @article {47510, title = {Evidence for an audience effect in mice: male social partners alter the male vocal response to female cues.}, journal = {The Journal of Experimental Biology}, volume = {219}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 May 15}, pages = {1437-48}, abstract = {

Mice (Mus musculus) form large and dynamic social groups and emit ultrasonic vocalizations in a variety of social contexts. Surprisingly, these vocalizations have been studied almost exclusively in the context of cues from only one social partner, despite the observation that in many social species the presence of additional listeners changes the structure of communication signals. Here, we show that male vocal behavior elicited by female odor is affected by the presence of a male audience - with changes in vocalization count, acoustic structure and syllable complexity. We further show that single sensory cues are not sufficient to elicit this audience effect, indicating that multiple cues may be necessary for an audience to be apparent. Together, these experiments reveal that some features of mouse vocal behavior are only expressed in more complex social situations, and introduce a powerful new assay for measuring detection of the presence of social partners in mice.

}, issn = {1477-9145}, doi = {10.1242/jeb.129361}, author = {Seagraves, Kelly M and Arthur, Ben J and Egnor, S E Roian} } @article {45053, title = {Phase shifts in binaural stimuli provide directional cues for sound localisation in the field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus.}, journal = {Journal of Experimental Biology}, volume = {217}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jul 1}, pages = {2390-8}, abstract = {

The cricket{\textquoteright}s auditory system is a highly directional pressure difference receiver whose function is hypothesised to depend on phase relationships between the sound waves propagating through the auditory trachea that connects the left and right hearing organs. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the effect of experimentally constructed phase shifts in acoustic stimuli on phonotactic behavior of Gryllus bimaculatus, the oscillatory response patterns of the tympanic membrane, and the activity of the auditory afferents. The same artificial calling song was played simultaneously at the left and right sides of the cricket, but one sound pattern was shifted in phase by 90 deg (carrier frequencies between 3.6 and 5.4 kHz). All three levels of auditory processing are sensitive to experimentally induced acoustic phase shifts, and the response characteristics are dependent on the carrier frequency of the sound stimulus. At lower frequencies, crickets steered away from the sound leading in phase, while tympanic membrane vibrations and auditory afferent responses were smaller when the ipsilateral sound was leading. In contrast, opposite responses were observed at higher frequencies in all three levels of auditory processing. Minimal responses occurred near the carrier frequency of the cricket{\textquoteright}s calling song, suggesting a stability at this frequency. Our results indicate that crickets may use directional cues arising from phase shifts in acoustic signals for sound localisation, and that the response properties of pressure difference receivers may be analysed with phase-shifted sound stimuli to further our understanding of how insect auditory systems are adapted for directional processing.

}, issn = {1477-9145}, doi = {10.1242/jeb.101402}, author = {Seagraves, Kelly M and Hedwig, Berthold} }