Acoustic Pattern Recognition and Courtship Songs: Insights from Insects

Christa A. Baker, Jan Clemens, Mala Murthy

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Across the animal kingdom, social interactions rely on sound production and perception. From simple cricket chirps to more elaborate bird songs, animals go to great lengths to communicate information critical for reproduction and survival via acoustic signals. Insects produce a wide array of songs to attract a mate, and the intended receivers must differentiate these calls from competing sounds, analyze the quality of the sender from spectrotemporal signal properties, and then determine how to react. Insects use numerically simple nervous systems to analyze and respond to courtship songs, making them ideal model systems for uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying acoustic pattern recognition. We highlight here how the combination of behavioral studies and neural recordings in three groups of insectscrickets, grasshoppers, and fruit fliesreveals common strategies for extracting ethologically relevant information from acoustic patterns and how these findings might translate to other systems.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)129-147
Number of pages19
JournalAnnual Review of Neuroscience
Volume42
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

Keywords

  • Animal Communication
  • Auditory Circuits
  • Auditory Processing
  • Courtship Songs
  • Temporal Pattern Recognition

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