A case of visuo-auditory sensory substitution in rats - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Behavioural Processes Année : 2019

A case of visuo-auditory sensory substitution in rats

Résumé

Sensory substitution refers to a process whereby an agent, by means of a removable specialized instrumentation, becomes capable of exploiting an available sensory modality in order to perceive properties of the environment which are normally accessible by means of a different modality. We describe a situation of visual-auditory sensory substitution in the rat. Rats were placed in complete darkness, and trained to follow a virtual path whose position was signalled by a sound activated by a video-tracking device. Our hypothesis was that the rats would be able to succeed in this task of spatial navigation, following the sound contour by means of sensory-motor coupling based on seeking the sound (all-or-none) and mastering the relation between their own actions and the expected sensory feedback. Our results confirm this hypothesis and show the progressive structuring of meaningful exploratory activity, leading from the appearance of stopping behaviour when the sound is lost or acceleration when the sound is discovered, up to a veritable sensory-motor strategy which maximizes the possibilities for discovering and following the sound path. Thus, the animals seem to have developed a new form of perception which translates in particular into motor behaviour adapted to the search for sound.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Roy_et_al_2019.pdf (1.37 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Licence

Dates et versions

hal-02127939 , version 1 (27-03-2023)

Licence

Identifiants

Citer

Vincent Roy, Ophélie Menant, Romain Hacquemand, Clément Vallier, Emmanuel Ensch, et al.. A case of visuo-auditory sensory substitution in rats. Behavioural Processes, 2019, 164, pp.157-166. ⟨10.1016/j.beproc.2019.05.001⟩. ⟨hal-02127939⟩
121 Consultations
74 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

More