From The Cover: Cross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog. Narins, P. M, Grabul, D. S, Soma, K. K, Gaucher, P., & Hödl, W. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 102(7):2425-9, 2005. doi abstract bibtex The mechanisms by which the brain binds together inputs from separate sensory modalities to effect a unified percept of events are poorly understood. This phenomenon was studied in males of the dart-poison frog Epipedobates femoralis. These animals physically and vigorously defend their territories against conspecific calling intruders. In prior field studies with an electromechanical model frog, we were able to experimentally evoke this aggressive behavior only when an auditory cue (advertisement call) was presented simultaneously with a visual cue (vocal-sac pulsations). In the present field experiments, we used a modified version of the electromechanical model frog to present territorial males with visual and auditory cues separated by experimentally introduced temporal delays or spatial disparities to probe temporal and spatial integration in this animal. In temporal integration experiments, bimodal stimuli with temporal overlap during calling bouts consistently evoked aggressive behavior; stimuli lacking bimodal temporal overlap were relatively ineffective at the same task. In spatial integration studies, despite presenting the components of the bimodal stimulus with an initial spatial disparity of up to 12 cm, fighting behavior persisted. These results demonstrate that temporal and spatial integration may be reliably estimated in a freely behaving animal in its natural habitat and that we can use aggressive behavior in this species as an index of cross-modal integration in the field.
@Article{Narins2005,
author = {Peter M Narins and Daniela S Grabul and Kiran K Soma and Philippe Gaucher and Walter H\"odl},
journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A},
title = {From {T}he {C}over: {C}ross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog.},
year = {2005},
number = {7},
pages = {2425-9},
volume = {102},
abstract = {The mechanisms by which the brain binds together inputs from separate
sensory modalities to effect a unified percept of events are poorly
understood. This phenomenon was studied in males of the dart-poison
frog Epipedobates femoralis. These animals physically and vigorously
defend their territories against conspecific calling intruders. In
prior field studies with an electromechanical model frog, we were
able to experimentally evoke this aggressive behavior only when an
auditory cue (advertisement call) was presented simultaneously with
a visual cue (vocal-sac pulsations). In the present field experiments,
we used a modified version of the electromechanical model frog to
present territorial males with visual and auditory cues separated
by experimentally introduced temporal delays or spatial disparities
to probe temporal and spatial integration in this animal. In temporal
integration experiments, bimodal stimuli with temporal overlap during
calling bouts consistently evoked aggressive behavior; stimuli lacking
bimodal temporal overlap were relatively ineffective at the same
task. In spatial integration studies, despite presenting the components
of the bimodal stimulus with an initial spatial disparity of up to
12 cm, fighting behavior persisted. These results demonstrate that
temporal and spatial integration may be reliably estimated in a freely
behaving animal in its natural habitat and that we can use aggressive
behavior in this species as an index of cross-modal integration in
the field.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.0406407102},
keywords = {15677318},
}
Downloads: 0
{"_id":"rXbSdSY9gzNTqgrHC","bibbaseid":"narins-grabul-soma-gaucher-hdl-fromthecovercrossmodalintegrationinadartpoisonfrog-2005","author_short":["Narins, P. M","Grabul, D. S","Soma, K. K","Gaucher, P.","Hödl, W."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","author":[{"firstnames":["Peter","M"],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Narins"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["Daniela","S"],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Grabul"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["Kiran","K"],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Soma"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["Philippe"],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Gaucher"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["Walter"],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Hödl"],"suffixes":[]}],"journal":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A","title":"From The Cover: Cross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog.","year":"2005","number":"7","pages":"2425-9","volume":"102","abstract":"The mechanisms by which the brain binds together inputs from separate sensory modalities to effect a unified percept of events are poorly understood. This phenomenon was studied in males of the dart-poison frog Epipedobates femoralis. These animals physically and vigorously defend their territories against conspecific calling intruders. In prior field studies with an electromechanical model frog, we were able to experimentally evoke this aggressive behavior only when an auditory cue (advertisement call) was presented simultaneously with a visual cue (vocal-sac pulsations). In the present field experiments, we used a modified version of the electromechanical model frog to present territorial males with visual and auditory cues separated by experimentally introduced temporal delays or spatial disparities to probe temporal and spatial integration in this animal. In temporal integration experiments, bimodal stimuli with temporal overlap during calling bouts consistently evoked aggressive behavior; stimuli lacking bimodal temporal overlap were relatively ineffective at the same task. In spatial integration studies, despite presenting the components of the bimodal stimulus with an initial spatial disparity of up to 12 cm, fighting behavior persisted. These results demonstrate that temporal and spatial integration may be reliably estimated in a freely behaving animal in its natural habitat and that we can use aggressive behavior in this species as an index of cross-modal integration in the field.","doi":"10.1073/pnas.0406407102","keywords":"15677318","bibtex":"@Article{Narins2005,\n author = {Peter M Narins and Daniela S Grabul and Kiran K Soma and Philippe Gaucher and Walter H\\\"odl},\n journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A},\n title = {From {T}he {C}over: {C}ross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog.},\n year = {2005},\n number = {7},\n pages = {2425-9},\n volume = {102},\n abstract = {The mechanisms by which the brain binds together inputs from separate\n\tsensory modalities to effect a unified percept of events are poorly\n\tunderstood. This phenomenon was studied in males of the dart-poison\n\tfrog Epipedobates femoralis. These animals physically and vigorously\n\tdefend their territories against conspecific calling intruders. In\n\tprior field studies with an electromechanical model frog, we were\n\table to experimentally evoke this aggressive behavior only when an\n\tauditory cue (advertisement call) was presented simultaneously with\n\ta visual cue (vocal-sac pulsations). In the present field experiments,\n\twe used a modified version of the electromechanical model frog to\n\tpresent territorial males with visual and auditory cues separated\n\tby experimentally introduced temporal delays or spatial disparities\n\tto probe temporal and spatial integration in this animal. In temporal\n\tintegration experiments, bimodal stimuli with temporal overlap during\n\tcalling bouts consistently evoked aggressive behavior; stimuli lacking\n\tbimodal temporal overlap were relatively ineffective at the same\n\ttask. In spatial integration studies, despite presenting the components\n\tof the bimodal stimulus with an initial spatial disparity of up to\n\t12 cm, fighting behavior persisted. These results demonstrate that\n\ttemporal and spatial integration may be reliably estimated in a freely\n\tbehaving animal in its natural habitat and that we can use aggressive\n\tbehavior in this species as an index of cross-modal integration in\n\tthe field.},\n doi = {10.1073/pnas.0406407102},\n keywords = {15677318},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Narins, P. M","Grabul, D. S","Soma, K. K","Gaucher, P.","Hödl, W."],"key":"Narins2005","id":"Narins2005","bibbaseid":"narins-grabul-soma-gaucher-hdl-fromthecovercrossmodalintegrationinadartpoisonfrog-2005","role":"author","urls":{},"keyword":["15677318"],"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"bibtype":"article","biburl":"http://endress.org/publications/ansgar.bib","dataSources":["xPGxHAeh3vZpx4yyE"],"keywords":["15677318"],"search_terms":["cover","cross","modal","integration","dart","poison","frog","narins","grabul","soma","gaucher","hödl"],"title":"From The Cover: Cross-modal integration in a dart-poison frog.","year":2005}