Beyond dichotomy: diversity of ultrasonic vocalizations in rats

Abstract

Rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in diverse contexts, and these USVs are thought to serve many biological functions, such as socio-coordinating and alarming functions. In particular, rat USVs have been established as a good model for studying emotional expressions. Since the discovery of USVs in rats, it has gradually been revealed that two families of juvenile and adult rat USVs with distinct acoustic features are closely linked to different affective states: 50-kHz (high-short) calls are associated with positive affective states, whereas 22-kHz (low-long) calls are associated with negative affective states. Although various subtypes within high-short and low-long calls have been proposed and used, most studies adopt the dichotomous framework of first dividing USVs into high-short or low-long calls. The diversity of rat USVs may have been overlooked due to this high-short / low-long dichotomous framework, as such labeling could discourage reporting of actual measured acoustic properties. Considering that several recent studies claim to have found new USV categories outside this framework, we conducted a systematic survey of descriptions of rat USVs in the literature. We identified 15 articles reporting USVs that are outside the dichotomous framework. Our results support the existence of diverse USVs beyond the dichotomy, highlighting the importance of research on a broader range of vocalizations that might reflect complex affective states beyond the simple distinction between positive and negative.