Experience restores innate female preference for male ultrasonic vocalizations

TLDR

Mouse models are increasingly used to study neural genetics of sensory processing and memory, with strain differences illuminating mechanisms of age‑related hearing loss and auditory fear conditioning, yet acoustic communication remains under‑explored and is now being investigated in the CBA/CaJ strain to build a foundation for future neural genetic work. The study investigates how adult female mice respond to male ultrasonic vocalizations. Female mice were tested in a place‑preference paradigm before and after auditory and olfactory exposure to a male, while a control group was housed with female cagemates between trials. All females initially preferred male calls, but the preference quickly waned; only females pair‑housed with a male during the inter‑trial interval regained interest, indicating that social experience influences the behavioral relevance of ultrasonic vocalizations and defines a timeframe for auditory processing changes.

Abstract

Mouse models are increasingly contributing to our understanding of the neural genetics of sensory processing and memory. For example, strain differences have helped elucidate basic mechanisms of age-related hearing loss and auditory fear conditioning. Assessing sensory differences arising in acoustic communication contexts is also important for understanding natural audition. While this topic has not been well studied, it is currently being addressed through auditory neuroethological studies in the CBA/CaJ strain, where insights will help lay a foundation for future neural genetic studies. Here, we focus on the responses of adult females to ultrasonic vocalizations of males. We tested a group of female mice in a place-preference paradigm before and after auditory and olfactory experience with a male. A control group was housed with other female cagemates between trials. All females showed an initial preference for male calls that rapidly decayed over the course of a trial. However, only females that had been pair-housed with a male during the inter-trial interval displayed a reinstated interest in male vocalizations, suggesting possible group differences in the assessment of the calls' behavioral relevance. These findings provide a timeframe during which auditory processing of male ultrasounds might be expected to show a difference depending on behavioral relevance, and also suggest an importance of social interactions in maintaining call recognition.