Phonotaxis in flying crickets. II. Physiological mechanisms of two-tone suppression of the high frequency avoidance steering behavior by the calling song.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Bench and animal neuroethology study (non-clinical design analogy)
PubMed 3783497 · doi:10.1007/BF00604164
What was done
Researchers measured steering behavior in tethered flying crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) and recorded intracellular responses from the ultrasound-sensitive auditory interneuron Int-1 during presentation of two-tone acoustic stimuli combining low-frequency calling songs (3-8 kHz) and aversive high-frequency ultrasound pulses (10-30 kHz).
What was found
Presenting a low-frequency tone (3-8 kHz) simultaneously with an aversive high-frequency tone suppressed avoidance steering behavior, with optimal suppression at 4-5 kHz when the low tone was 10-15 dB louder than the high-frequency tone. Suppressive effects persisted up to 70 ms when the 5 kHz tone preceded or overlapped the high-frequency pulse. Avoidance threshold to 30 kHz ultrasound was elevated during positive phonotaxis to 5 kHz model calling song only when song intensity exceeded 70-80 dB SPL, while avoidance steering was consistently elicited when the calling song was not more than 10 dB louder than the ultrasound. High-frequency harmonics (10-20 kHz) elicited avoidance behavior even with attractive temporal patterns (16 pulses per second), but adding the 5 kHz fundamental masked this aversive reaction and restored positive phonotaxis.
Why it matters
This study demonstrates a neural and behavioral masking mechanism by which the fundamental frequency of cricket calling song prevents self-generated high-frequency harmonics from triggering bat-avoidance escape responses.
Limits
The abstract does not report sample sizes, variance, or statistical tests. The findings are derived from tethered crickets under artificial acoustic conditions rather than free-flight field behavior.
Cited by
- contradicts Crickets possess bimodal auditory neurons with dual sensitivity peaks at 6 kHz and 40 kHz that elicit opposing deterministic behavioral responses.