Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls

Abstract During vocal communication, the spectro-temporal structure of vocalizations conveys important contextual information. Bats excel in the use of sounds for echolocation by meticulous encoding of signals in the temporal domain. We therefore hypothesized that for social communication as well, b...

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Autores principales:	Stephen Gareth Hörpel, A. Leonie Baier, Herbert Peremans, Jonas Reijniers, Lutz Wiegrebe, Uwe Firzlaff
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7696a8a6192b4bbeb1d5a372bb4b0f23
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7696a8a6192b4bbeb1d5a372bb4b0f232021-12-02T16:10:37ZCommunication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls10.1038/s41598-021-92842-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/7696a8a6192b4bbeb1d5a372bb4b0f232021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92842-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract During vocal communication, the spectro-temporal structure of vocalizations conveys important contextual information. Bats excel in the use of sounds for echolocation by meticulous encoding of signals in the temporal domain. We therefore hypothesized that for social communication as well, bats would excel at detecting minute distortions in the spectro-temporal structure of calls. To test this hypothesis, we systematically introduced spectro-temporal distortion to communication calls of Phyllostomus discolor bats. We broke down each call into windows of the same length and randomized the phase spectrum inside each window. The overall degree of spectro-temporal distortion in communication calls increased with window length. Modelling the bat auditory periphery revealed that cochlear mechanisms allow discrimination of fast spectro-temporal envelopes. We evaluated model predictions with experimental psychophysical and neurophysiological data. We first assessed bats’ performance in discriminating original versions of calls from increasingly distorted versions of the same calls. We further examined cortical responses to determine additional specializations for call discrimination at the cortical level. Psychophysical and cortical responses concurred with model predictions, revealing discrimination thresholds in the range of 8–15 ms randomization-window length. Our data suggest that specialized cortical areas are not necessary to impart psychophysical resilience to temporal distortion in communication calls.Stephen Gareth HörpelA. Leonie BaierHerbert PeremansJonas ReijniersLutz WiegrebeUwe FirzlaffNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Stephen Gareth Hörpel A. Leonie Baier Herbert Peremans Jonas Reijniers Lutz Wiegrebe Uwe Firzlaff Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
description	Abstract During vocal communication, the spectro-temporal structure of vocalizations conveys important contextual information. Bats excel in the use of sounds for echolocation by meticulous encoding of signals in the temporal domain. We therefore hypothesized that for social communication as well, bats would excel at detecting minute distortions in the spectro-temporal structure of calls. To test this hypothesis, we systematically introduced spectro-temporal distortion to communication calls of Phyllostomus discolor bats. We broke down each call into windows of the same length and randomized the phase spectrum inside each window. The overall degree of spectro-temporal distortion in communication calls increased with window length. Modelling the bat auditory periphery revealed that cochlear mechanisms allow discrimination of fast spectro-temporal envelopes. We evaluated model predictions with experimental psychophysical and neurophysiological data. We first assessed bats’ performance in discriminating original versions of calls from increasingly distorted versions of the same calls. We further examined cortical responses to determine additional specializations for call discrimination at the cortical level. Psychophysical and cortical responses concurred with model predictions, revealing discrimination thresholds in the range of 8–15 ms randomization-window length. Our data suggest that specialized cortical areas are not necessary to impart psychophysical resilience to temporal distortion in communication calls.
format	article
author	Stephen Gareth Hörpel A. Leonie Baier Herbert Peremans Jonas Reijniers Lutz Wiegrebe Uwe Firzlaff
author_facet	Stephen Gareth Hörpel A. Leonie Baier Herbert Peremans Jonas Reijniers Lutz Wiegrebe Uwe Firzlaff
author_sort	Stephen Gareth Hörpel
title	Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
title_short	Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
title_full	Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
title_fullStr	Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
title_full_unstemmed	Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
title_sort	communication breakdown: limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7696a8a6192b4bbeb1d5a372bb4b0f23
work_keys_str_mv	AT stephengarethhorpel communicationbreakdownlimitsofspectrotemporalresolutionfortheperceptionofbatcommunicationcalls AT aleoniebaier communicationbreakdownlimitsofspectrotemporalresolutionfortheperceptionofbatcommunicationcalls AT herbertperemans communicationbreakdownlimitsofspectrotemporalresolutionfortheperceptionofbatcommunicationcalls AT jonasreijniers communicationbreakdownlimitsofspectrotemporalresolutionfortheperceptionofbatcommunicationcalls AT lutzwiegrebe communicationbreakdownlimitsofspectrotemporalresolutionfortheperceptionofbatcommunicationcalls AT uwefirzlaff communicationbreakdownlimitsofspectrotemporalresolutionfortheperceptionofbatcommunicationcalls
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Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls

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