Sensory cortex plasticity supports auditory social learning

Social learning (SL) through experience with conspecifics can facilitate the acquisition of many behaviors. In Mongolian gerbils, exposure to a demonstrator performing an auditory discrimination task facilitates subsequent task acquisition, even without visual cues. This study shows that transient inactivation of auditory cortex (AC) during exposure delays task acquisition, indicating AC activity's necessity for SL. Social exposure improves AC neuron sensitivity to auditory cues, with the magnitude of neural change correlating with task acquisition. Exposure to only auditory tasks yields poorer outcomes. Social information during exposure is encoded in the observer's AC. These results suggest social experience supports auditory AC plasticity during social exposure, preceding behavioral performance.

Nihaad Paraouty, Justin D. Yao, Léo Varnet, Chi-Ning Chou, SueYeon Chung, Dan H. Sanes