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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Individual and Social Behaviors
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1418577

Adult auditory brain responses to nestling begging calls in seasonal songbirds: An fMRI study in non-parent male and female starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Provisionally accepted
Nicholas Vidas-Guscic Nicholas Vidas-Guscic 1,2Elisabeth Jonckers Elisabeth Jonckers 1,2Johan Van Audekerke Johan Van Audekerke 1,2Jasmien Orije Jasmien Orije 1,2Julie Hamaide Julie Hamaide 1Gaurav Majumdar Gaurav Majumdar 1Laurence Henry Laurence Henry 3Martine Hausberger Martine Hausberger 4Marleen Verhoye Marleen Verhoye 1,2Annemie Van der Linden Annemie Van der Linden 1,2*
  • 1 Bio-Imaging Lab, Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 2 µNEURO Research Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 3 UMR6552 Ethologie animale et humaine (EthoS), Rennes, Brittany, France
  • 4 UMR8002 Centre de neuroscience et de cognition intégrative (INCC), Paris, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The present study aims to investigate whether begging calls elicit specific auditory responses in nonparenting birds, whether these responses are influenced by the hormonal status of the bird, and whether they reflect biparental care for offspring in the European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). An fMRI experiment was conducted to expose non-parenting male and female European starlings to recordings of conspecific nestling begging calls during both artificially induced breeding and nonbreeding seasons. This response was compared with their reaction to conspecific individual warbling song motifs and artificial pure tones, serving as social species-specific and artificial control stimuli, respectively. Our findings reveal that begging calls evoke a response in non-parenting male and female starlings, with significantly higher responsiveness observed in the right Field L and the Caudomedial Nidopallium (NCM), regardless of season or sex. Moreover, a significant seasonal variation in auditory brain responses was elicited in both sexes exclusively by begging calls, not by the applied control stimuli, within a ventral midsagittal region of NCM. This heightened response to begging calls, even in non-parenting birds, in the right primary auditory system (Field L), and the photoperiod induced hormonal neuromodulation of auditory responses to offspring's begging calls in the secondary auditory system (NCM), bears resemblance to mammalian responses to hunger calls. This suggests a convergent evolution aimed at facilitating swift adult responses to such calls crucial for offspring survival.

    Keywords: European starling, begging calls, caudomedial nidopallium, Auditory Perception, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), lateralization, songbird, Neuroethology

    Received: 16 Apr 2024; Accepted: 13 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Vidas-Guscic, Jonckers, Van Audekerke, Orije, Hamaide, Majumdar, Henry, Hausberger, Verhoye and Van der Linden. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Annemie Van der Linden, Bio-Imaging Lab, Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, B-2610, Antwerp, Belgium

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