Hearing, touching, and multisensory integration during mate choice
Open accessAbstract
Mate choice is a potent generator of diversity and a fundamental pillar for sexual selection and evolution. Mate choice is a multistage affair, where complex sensory information and elaborate actions are used to identify, scrutinize, and evaluate potential mating partners. While widely accepted that communication during mate assessment relies on multimodal cues, most studies investigating the mechanisms controlling this fundamental behavior have restricted their focus to the dominant sensory modality used by the species under examination, such as vision in humans and smell in rodents. However, despite their undeniable importance for the initial recognition, attraction, and approach towards a potential mate, other modalities gain relevance as the interaction progresses, amongst which are touch and audition. In this review, we will: (1) focus on recent findings of how touch and audition can contribute to the evaluation and choice of mating partners, and (2) outline our current knowledge regarding the neuronal circuits processing touch and audition (amongst others) in the context of mate choice and ask (3) how these neural circuits are connected to areas that have been studied in the light of multisensory integration.
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Ultrasonic vocalizations provide information about sexual history and fitness and are used to attract potential mates.
“Alongside olfactory cues, ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) provide information about sexual history and fitness and are used to attract potential mates [90].”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [90]
The premating Mice section says USVs attract mates and can convey sexual receptivity, social rank, and genetic-background cues. It does not say they reveal an individual's sexual history or fitness; its discussion of fitness concerns the effect of inbreeding avoidance on offspring. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn humans and non-human primates alike, visual information about potential mates is favored over other sensory modalities, although auditory and olfactory information also shape attraction.
“In humans and non-human primates (NHPs) alike, visual information about potential mates is favored over other sensory modalities, although there is evidence of auditory and olfactory information also shaping attraction [90] (Figure 2b).”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [90]
The Introduction says human mate choice is mostly driven by visual input, while audition gains relevance as interaction progresses. The section on synergistic multisensory cues also discusses olfactory preferences, but the cited passages do not extend visual predominance to non-human primates; the paper instead describes dominant modalities as species-specific. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMale mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations in a sing-song pattern upon encountering a female, and females approach these vocalizations.
“Male mice emit USVs in a sing-song pattern upon encountering a female, and females approach these vocalizations.”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [90]
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References 677 · Cited by 17
Research works printed but not linked: 11
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- Authors
- Lenschow, C., Mendes, A. R. P., & Lima, S. Q.
- Affiliations
- Champalimaud Foundation (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Lenschow, Constanze
- Venue
- Frontiers in Neural Circuits
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-09-20
- Volume
- 16
- Pages
- 943888-943888
- ISSN
- 1662-5110 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9559228
- OpenAlex
- W4297012633
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 677
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Neural Circuits (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Human Frontier Science Program
- H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- European Research Council
- Faculdade de Ciàªncias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Keywords
- mate choice, multisensory integration, touch, auditions, neural circuits, sexual selection, multimodal communication, auditory processing, tactile processing
- MeSH terms
- Auditory Perception, Hearing, Humans, Smell, Touch, Touch Perception
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