Becoming a better parent: Mice learn sounds that improve a stereotyped maternal behavior

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Alexander G. Dunlap, Georgia Institute of Technology; Cristina Besosa, Emory University; Leila M. Pascual, Emory University; Kelly K. Chong, Emory University; Hasse Walum, Emory University; Dorottya B. Kacsoh, Emory University; Brendo B. Tankeu, Bowie State University; Kai Lu, Emory University; Robert Liu, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-08-01
• Publisher: Academic Press Inc. Elsevier Science
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104779
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Hormones and Behavior
• Volume: 124
• Start Page: 104779
• End Page: 104779
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Grants R01-DC-8343 (RCL), P50-MH-100023 (DBK and RCL) and T32-HD-071845 (KKC) and Emory University’s Laney Graduate School Summer Opportunity for Academic Research program (BBT).
• Keywords: Behavioral Sciences; Sensory learning; Social behavior; Cortical plasticity; Endocrinology & Metabolism; Ultrasonic vocalizations; Plasticity; Operant conditioning; Auditory cortex; Postpartum; Hormones; Science & Technology; Parental behavior; Memory; Pregnancy; Predisposition; Communication; Lesions; Localization; Estrogen; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Experiences
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience; Engineering, Biomedical; Biology, General

Abstract

While mothering is often instinctive and stereotyped in species-specific ways, evolution can favor genetically “open” behavior programs that allow experience to shape infant care. Among experience-dependent maternal behavioral mechanisms, sensory learning about infants has been hard to separate from motivational changes arising from sensitization with infants. We developed a paradigm in which sensory learning of an infant-associated cue improves a stereotypical maternal behavior in female mice. Mice instinctively employed a spatial memory-based strategy when engaged repetitively in a pup search and retrieval task. However, by playing a sound from a T-maze arm to signal where a pup will be delivered for retrieval, mice learned within 7 days and retained for at least 2 weeks the ability to use this specific cue to guide a more efficient search strategy. The motivation to retrieve pups also increased with learning on average, but their correlation did not explain performance at the trial level. Bilaterally silencing auditory cortical activity significantly impaired the utilization of new strategy without changing the motivation to retrieve pups. Finally, motherhood as compared to infant-care experience alone accelerated how quickly the new sensory-based strategy was acquired, suggesting a role for the maternal hormonal state. By rigorously establishing that newly formed sensory associations can improve the performance of a natural maternal behavior, this work facilitates future studies into the neurochemical and circuit mechanisms that mediate novel sensory learning in the maternal context, as well as more learning-based mechanisms of parental behavior in rodents.