Candidate Neural Locus For Sex Differences In Reproductive Decisions

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 10 Jul 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Frogs have sex differences in behavior, with male frogs typically being less selective than females in behavioral responses.

We examined the brains of frogs to determine whether the sexes hear differently, perceive the calls differently by differential auditory processing, or act differently based on similar auditory system information.

We argue that the sexes are similar in their specificity at early stages of the auditory system. At higher stages of auditory processing, however, the brains of males are responsive to a broader range of stimuli than the brains of females.

We propose dimorphic auditory processing underlies sex differences in behavioral selectivity.

Royal Society journal Biology Letters

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Biology Letters