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A corollary discharge mechanism modulates central auditory processing in singing crickets
1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom. jfap2@cam.ac.uk
Journal of Neurophysiology
|March 11, 2003
Summary
Crickets use a corollary discharge to inhibit their auditory system during loud self-produced songs. This prevents auditory desensitization, allowing them to hear external sounds while singing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Communication
- Bioacoustics
Background:
- Crickets produce loud songs (100 dB SPL) for communication.
- Self-generated sounds can negatively impact an animal's auditory system.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how crickets manage auditory stimulation from their own songs.
- To understand the neural mechanisms preventing auditory desensitization during stridulation.
Main Methods:
- Intracellular recordings from auditory afferent neurons and the Omega 1 neuron (ON1) in crickets.
- Pharmacologically elicited singing (stridulation) and silent stridulation (wing removal).
- Analysis of neural responses during normal and fictive stridulation.
Main Results:
- Auditory afferents and ON1 responded to self-generated song during stridulation.
- Silent stridulation revealed primary afferent depolarizations (PADs) and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in ON1.
- These inhibitory potentials, driven by a corollary discharge, occurred during wing movements, maximally inhibiting ON1 during sound production.
Conclusions:
- A corollary discharge from the stridulation motor network inhibits the cricket auditory pathway.
- This central inhibition prevents auditory desensitization, enabling crickets to detect external sounds during singing.
- The mechanism allows crickets to balance self-communication with environmental awareness.