Document Detail


Acoustic features of objects matched by an echolocating bottlenose dolphin.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  16583925     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
The focus of this study was to investigate how dolphins use acoustic features in returning echolocation signals to discriminate among objects. An echolocating dolphin performed a match-to-sample task with objects that varied in size, shape, material, and texture. After the task was completed, the features of the object echoes were measured (e.g., target strength, peak frequency). The dolphin's error patterns were examined in conjunction with the between-object variation in acoustic features to identify the acoustic features that the dolphin used to discriminate among the objects. The present study explored two hypotheses regarding the way dolphins use acoustic information in echoes: (1) use of a single feature, or (2) use of a linear combination of multiple features. The results suggested that dolphins do not use a single feature across all object sets or a linear combination of six echo features. Five features appeared to be important to the dolphin on four or more sets: the echo spectrum shape, the pattern of changes in target strength and number of highlights as a function of object orientation, and peak and center frequency. These data suggest that dolphins use multiple features and integrate information across echoes from a range of object orientations.
Authors:
Caroline M Delong; Whitlow W L Au; David W Lemonds; Heidi E Harley; Herbert L Roitblat
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America     Volume:  119     ISSN:  0001-4966     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Acoust. Soc. Am.     Publication Date:  2006 Mar 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2006-04-04     Completed Date:  2007-05-24     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7503051     Medline TA:  J Acoust Soc Am     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1867-79     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, P O. Box 1106, Kailua, Hawaii 96734, USA. Caroline_Delong@Brown.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Acoustics*
Animals
Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / physiology*
Choice Behavior / physiology
Discriminant Analysis
Discrimination (Psychology) / physiology
Echolocation / physiology*
Linear Models
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Sound Spectrography

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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