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Auditory lateralization in bushcrickets: a new dichotic paradigm

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Abstract

Pair formation in the bushcricket Gampsocleis gratiosa is achieved through acoustic signalling by the male and phonotactic approaches of the female towards the calling song. On a walking belt in the free sound field, females tracked the position of the speaker broadcasting the male calling song with a remarkable precision, deviating by no more than 10 cm in either direction from the ideal course. Starting with stimulus angles of 6–10° the females significantly turned to the correct side, and with stimulus angles greater than 25° no incorrect turns were made. Using neurophysiological data on the directionality of the ear we calculated that with such stimulus angles the available binaural intensity difference is in the order of 1–2 dB. We developed a dichotic ear stimulation device for freely moving females with a cross-talk barrier of about 50 dB, which allowed to precisely apply small binaural intensity differences. In such a dichotic stimulation paradigm, females on average turned to the tronger stimulated side starting with a 1 dB difference between both ears. The significance of such a reliable lateralization behaviour with small interaural intensity differences for phonotactic behaviour under natural conditions is discussed.

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Abbreviations

IID:

Interaural intensity difference

SPL:

Sound pressure level

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to JXS (30170250 and 39770209). Experiments comply with the “Principles of animal care”, publication no. 86-23, revised 1985 of the National Institute of Health, and also with the current laws of Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ermener Str. 21, 59394, Nordkirchen, Germany

    Jürgen Rheinlaender

  2. Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, 100101, Beijing, China

    Jun-Xian Shen

  3. Institute of Zoology, Karl-Franzens-University, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Heiner Römer

Authors
  1. Jürgen Rheinlaender
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  2. Jun-Xian Shen
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  3. Heiner Römer
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Correspondence to Heiner Römer.

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Rheinlaender, J., Shen, JX. & Römer, H. Auditory lateralization in bushcrickets: a new dichotic paradigm. J Comp Physiol A 192, 389–397 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0078-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0078-1

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