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Electrophysiological evidence for conspecific voice sensitivity in non-human mammals
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Poster D86 in Poster Session D, Wednesday, October 25, 4:45 - 6:30 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Boglárka Morvai1, Marianna Boros1, Elodie Ferrando1, Fruzsina Horváth1, Lilla Magyari1,2,3, Attila Andics1,4; 1Neuroethology of Communication Lab, Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2Norwegian Reading Centre for Reading Education and Research, Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, 3Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4ELTE NAP Canine Brain Research Group
The neural processing of various vocal stimuli is a prominent focus in human studies, yet only a handful of studies investigated non-human species in this context. Despite the great potential of comparative studies, our understanding is far from complete regarding similarities and differences across species in various voice processing mechanisms. Here, we aimed to investigate the neural responses to conspecific, heterospecific and environmental vocal stimuli in two domesticated mammalian species, the pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) and the dog (Canis familiaris). Based on prior human studies and given that intra-species communication relies on the ability of individuals to differentiate between conspecific vocalizations and other auditory stimuli, we hypothesized, that (1) the distinctive neural processing of conspecific vocalization may be generally found in mammalian species. Additionally, considering dogs' selective breeding for collaboration with humans, along with dogs’ and humans’ lifelong close relationship, we hypothesized that (2) these may have led to neural specializations in dogs for processing the human voice. Non-invasive, awake electroencephalography (EEG) was applied to identify potential intra- and inter-species differences in sound processing; subjects listened to human, dog, pig, and environmental sounds while event related potentials (ERPs) were registered. We found that both species exhibited distinct ERPs for processing conspecific vocalizations vs. heterospecific (dogs: 0.318-0.478, pigs: 0.122-0.414 ms after stimulus onset) and environmental sounds (dogs: 0.308-0.496 ms, pigs: 0.074-0.530 ms after stimulus onset). However, based on our results, neither species showed a difference in ERPs when processing human versus other heterospecific vocal stimuli. Our findings corroborate earlier human research, indicating that the processing of conspecific sounds is distinct from that of heterospecific and environmental sounds in both dogs and pigs. Furthermore, to our knowledge, this is the first ever electrophysiological evidence for conspecific voice sensitivity in non-human mammals. In addition, our results indicate that dogs’ domestication history did not lead to neural specializations for processing human vocalizations.
Topic Areas: Animal Communication and Comparative/Evolutionary Studies,