Pauses during communication release behavioral habituation through recovery from synaptic depression.

During interactive communication, animals occasionally cease producing communication signals. The behavioral significance of resumed communication signals following a cessation, or silent pause, has been described in human speech: word recognition by listeners is enhanced after silent pauses, and speakers tend to place such pauses prior to words that are contextually unpredictable and that therefore have high information content. How central nervous systems process signals following pauses differently from signals during continuous communication has not been studied at a cellular level.