This presentation is from my guest lecture in the Graduate Course "Principles of Neuroscience" at The University of Texas at Austin on October 21, 2014. My talk was part of a series of talks on visual and auditory processing. My goal was to expand the discussion to context specific processing of social stimuli and conserved neural mechanisms that regulate behavioral responses to social stimuli.

1. Neurobiology of Social Sensory
Integration & Behavior
Rayna M Harris
Guest Lecture
Principles of Neuroscience (NEU 482T)
1

2. Multimodal signaling gone awry
2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLq2-
uZd5LY
http://www.anchormanmovie.com/#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLq2-uZd5LY
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy 2004

3. All animals face challenges and opportunities
Challenge: competition for resources
male-male interactions
predator avoidance
Opportunity: mate choice
habitat selection
foraging
3
O’Connell & Hofmann 2011 Front Neuroendocrinol

4. Learning Objectives
• Natural and sexual selection
shape behaviors and the
mechanism that govern them
• Many methods for
disentangling neural, hormonal,
and behavioral responses to
multi-modal signaling
• Neural processes for producing
and detecting social stimuli are
evolutionarily conserved
• Box plots show variation in data
4

5. The Tungara Frog Advertisement Call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSuTbkftrX
Q&list=PL608jTKwa00fDamk-ie2MoL4X6SK7B5Uo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSuTbkftrXQ
5

6. Advertisement Calls Vary in Complexity
Ryan MJ & Guerra MA 2014 Curr. Opin. in Neurobiol. 6

7. Laryngeal Size Modulates Call Complexity
Ryan MJ & Guerra MA 2014 Curr. Opin. in Neurobiol.
7

8. Female Preference for Whine & Chucks
Ryan MJ & Guerra MA 2014 Curr. Opin. in Neurobiol. 8

9. Females prefer complex, synchronous
audio and visual stimuli
RC Traylor & MJ Ryan 2013 Science.
9

10. Male Rivals and Bats Respond to Ripples
W. Halfwerk et al 2014 Science 10

11. Where are these stimuli processed?
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The Brain as a Black Box
O’Connell et al 2011 J Chem Neuroanatomy

12. What neural circuits process &
integrate social stimuli across taxa?
O’Connell & Hofmann 2011 J Comp Neurol 12

13. Astatotilapia burtoni: a model organism
for the study of social neuroscience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsITD40W7pE
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14. Color Vision in Cichlids Modulated by
Many Opsins
CM Hofmann et al. (2010) Mol Ecol. 14

15. Perceivable colors differences in
Astatotilapia burtoni individuals
Hofmann Lab, unpublished 15

16. Males alter their chemical urine
signaling in response to contextual
sensory social cues
Maruska & Fernald 2012 J. Exp Biol 16

17. Neuroendocrine Mechanisms Underlying
Sensory Integration of Social Signals
Visual Chemical Visual & Chemical
O’Connell et al. 2013
J Neuroendocrinol
Intruder
Challenge
Reproductive
Opportunity
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18. Context-appropriate behavioral responses
to different sensory cues
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O’Connell et al. (2013) J Neuroendocrinol 25, 644-654.

19. Hormonal responses to social context
depends on sensory information
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O’Connell et al. (2013) J Neuroendocrinol 25, 644-654.

20. Induction of specific dopaminergic
neurons depends on sensory information
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O’Connell et al. (2013) J Neuroendocrinol 25, 644-654.
TH C-Fos

21. Conserved neural substrates of social behavior
All animals must make context-appropriate
choices
O’Connell & Hofmann 2011 JCN; 2012 Science
Variation in ecology, sensory
biases, life history across animals
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Common neural
structures & functions

22. For more related research
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Dr. Lauren O’Connell
Harvard University
Dr. Hans Hofmann
The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Michael Ryan
The University of Texas at Austin