Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Determining Ultrasonic Vocalization Preferences in Mice using a Two-choice Playback Test
Published on: September 3, 2015
Vocal control of acoustic information for sonar discriminations by the echolocating bat, Eptesicus fuscus
1Harvard University, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
This study aimed to determine whether bats using frequency modulated (FM) echolocation signals adapt the features of their vocalizations to the perceptual demands of a particular sonar task. Quantitative measures were obtained from the vocal signals produced by echolocating bats (Eptesicus fuscus) that were trained to perform in two distinct perceptual tasks, echo delay and Doppler-shift discriminations. In both perceptual tasks, the bats learned to discriminate electronically manipulated playback signals of their own echolocation sounds, which simulated echoes from sonar targets. Both tasks utilized a single-channel electronic target simulator and tested the bat's in a two-alternative forced choice procedure. The results of this study demonstrate changes in the features of the FM bats' sonar sounds with echolocation task demands, lending support to the notion that this animal actively controls the echo information that guides its behavior.
More Related Videos
08:44Eliciting and Analyzing Male Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalization (USV) Songs
Published on: May 9, 2017
10:55Enhancing an Avian Sound Recognition Model's Detection Precision via Logistic Regression of Large Acoustic Datasets: A Case Study of the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Published on: April 12, 2026
Related Concept Videos
The Cochlea
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case, then the...
Anatomy of the Ear
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...