Abstract

Introduction

Materials & Methods

Results

Discussion & Conclusion

References

Discussion
Board

Brain areas susceptible to electrical stimulation show various classes of response conditions, which give indications about the kind of involvement of the structure into the control of vocalisations. Structures identified as vocal with electrical stimulation in the bat have to be tested pharmacologically (glutamatergic stimulation) in order to exclude the possibility of fibre-of-passage stimulation. All brain areas in the bat where vocalisation can be elicited and which have been investigated in respect to their connectivity exhibit differentiated afferent connections from the auditory pathway. Potentially all these connections could serve as a link in audio-vocal control or feedback system. It is evident from the recent results that the anatomical and functional substrate for acoustically guided behaviour in bats is not organised hierarchically but rather as a distributed network on different levels of the brainstem.

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 204, TP10 and Schu390/5-1,2.

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