Meeting Abstract
In rodents, vocalizations of different structure may induce different responses in receivers. During courtship interactions, male house mice (Mus musculus) produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), which are positively correlated to mating success. In the same interactions female mice produce broadband vocalizations (BBVs) that are closely paired with male-directed rejection behaviors. A high initial rate of BBVs corresponds to reduced male mounting success, while the opposite is true of interactions with low initial BBV production. In previous work, playback of a recorded courtship interaction with high initial BBVs in the presence of an inaccessible nonvocalizing female suppresses male courtship USVs. Here, We examined the role of the amount of non-linear structure in BBVs in depressing male courtship USVs, since nonlinear segments vary with individual identity and reproductive state. Males (n=6) were presented with a novel female and BBV playbacks created by using trains of an unmodified exemplar BBV, the same exemplar BBV modified to have no non-linear structure (LowNL) double the non-linear segments (HighNL), or no playback. These 3 playbacks were each presented to a male and female pair separated by a plexiglass barrier with a small opening for olfactory investigation. Males decreased USV production when compared to no playback in response to playback of the exemplar BBV, while increasing USV production in response to LowNL playback, and did not change USV production to HighNL playback. When males were given additional olfactory stimuli, LowNL playback decreased male USV production while other playbacks evoked the previously described responses. These results suggest that male response to female rejection is sensitive to both the structure of rejection vocalizations as well as the context of those vocalizations.
