Discrete uni- and multimodal mechanisms control sensorimotor gating of goldfish startle.
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1
Graduate Center City University of New York, Psychology, United States
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2
Hunter College, City University of New York, United States
Sensorimotor gating mechanisms regulate the integration of sensory information in decision-making motor systems. These effects can be quantified in pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) paradigms, wherein weak (subthreshold prepulse) stimuli are used to modify the response to subsequent strong (suprathreshold pulse) stimuli presented short (20-1000 ms) intervals apart. Importantly, although PPI can be activated by visual and/or auditory prepulse stimuli, the mechanisms that integrate multiple afferent modalities are largely unknown. Here, we applied multi-modal PPI paradigms to study the integration of visual and auditory sensory modalities in the startle behavior of goldfish, and recorded soma-dendritic integration in the decision-making neuron (Mauthner cell) that triggers the behavior. Preliminary results indicate two main effects. First, the sequential order of stimulus modalities determines the sensorimotor gating effects evoked by pre-pulse stimuli. Auditory pre-pulse stimuli typically evoke attenuation of both visual and auditory startle responses. Visual pre-pulses, however, evoke inhibition of visual startle responses, but facilitate auditory startle responses. Secondly, our results show that the salience of visual pre-pulse stimuli is also an important determinant of sensorimotor gating effects. We tested this by comparing prepulse-gating effects evoked by flashes of light and by projected images of rapidly expanding discs (i.e., “looming” stimuli). We found that whereas light-flash prepulses evoke inhibition of the startle response, looming visual-prepulse stimuli evoke the opposite, a facilitation of startle. In sum, these findings suggest that plasticity in sensorimotor gating is driven by discrete uni- and multimodal mechanisms. Functionally, the sequence and kind of stimuli likely have biological relevance for adaptive behavioral decisions.
Keywords:
dendritic integration,
Goldfish,
Pre-pulse inhibition,
startle plasticity
Conference:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster (but consider for student poster award)
Topic:
Sensorimotor Integration
Citation:
Curtin
PC,
Cohen
SS,
Medan
V,
Karapetyan
S,
Neumeister
H and
Preuss
T
(2012). Discrete uni- and multimodal mechanisms control sensorimotor gating of goldfish startle..
Conference Abstract:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00365
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Received:
01 May 2012;
Published Online:
07 Jul 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Paul C Curtin, Graduate Center City University of New York, Psychology, Manhattan, NY, 10016, United States, paulconor@gmail.com