Infant cries evoke powerful responses in parents,,–. Whether parental animals are
intrinsically sensitive to neonatal vocalizations, or instead learn about vocal cues for …

Early in life, neural circuits are highly susceptible to outside influences. The organization of
the primary auditory cortex (A1) in particular is governed by acoustic experience during the …

Oxytocin is important for social interactions and maternal behaviour. However, little is known
about when, where and how oxytocin modulates neural circuits to improve social cognition …

Functional receptive fields of neurons in sensory cortices undergo progressive refinement
during development,,,. Such refinement may be attributed to the pruning of non-optimal …

Innate vocal sounds such as laughing, screaming or crying convey one's feelings to others.
In many species, including humans, scaling the amplitude and duration of vocalizations is …

Neurons in the primary auditory cortex are tuned to the intensity and specific frequencies of
sounds, but the synaptic mechanisms underlying this tuning remain uncertain. Inhibition …

There is a growing interest in the use of mice as a model system for speciesspecific
communication. In particular, ultrasonic calls emitted by mouse pups communicate distress …

Viral infection during pregnancy is correlated with increased frequency of
neurodevelopmental disorders, and this is studied in mice prenatally subjected to maternal …

Compared with the knowledge of maternal care, much less is known about the factors
required for paternal parental care. Here we report that new sires of laboratory mice, though …

Mother-infant bonding develops rapidly following parturition and is accompanied by
changes in sensory perception and behavior. Here, we study how ultrasonic vocalizations …