Sensorimotor Nucleus NIf Is Necessary for Auditory Processing But Not Vocal Motor Output in the Avian Song System

Sensorimotor integration in the avian song system is crucial for both learning and maintenance of song, a vocal motor behavior. Although a number of song system areas demonstrate both sensory and motor characteristics, their exact roles in auditory and premotor processing are unclear. In particular, it is unknown whether input from the forebrain nucleus interface of the nidopallium (NIf), which exhibits both sensory and premotor activity, is necessary for both auditory and premotor processing in its target, HVC. Here we show that bilateral NIf lesions result in long-term loss of HVC auditory activity but do not impair song production. NIf is thus a major source of auditory input to HVC, but an intact NIf is not necessary for motor output in adult zebra finches.

Download Full-text

A subcortical circuit linking the cerebellum to the basal ganglia engaged in vocal learning

10.1101/198317 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ludivine Pidoux ◽

Pascale Leblanc ◽

Arthur Leblois

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Vocal Learning ◽

Song Learning ◽

Sensorimotor Learning ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Subcortical Structures ◽

Song Production ◽

Cerebellar Lesions ◽

Avian Song

AbstractSpeech is a complex sensorimotor skill, and vocal learning involves both the basal ganglia and the cerebellum. These subcortical structures interact indirectly through their respective loops with thalamo-cortical and brainstem networks, and directly via subcortical pathways, but the role of their interaction during sensorimotor learning remains undetermined. While songbirds and their song-dedicated basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuitry offer a unique opportunity to study subcortical circuits involved in vocal learning, the cerebellar contribution to avian song learning remains unknown. We demonstrate that the cerebellum provides a strong input to the song-related basal ganglia nucleus in zebra finches. Cerebellar signals are transmitted to the basal ganglia via a disynaptic connection through the thalamus and then conveyed to their cortical target and to the premotor nucleus controlling song production. Finally, cerebellar lesions impair juvenile song learning, opening new opportunities to investigate how subcortical interactions between the cerebellum and basal ganglia contribute to sensorimotor learning.

Download Full-text

Estrogen and sex-dependent loss of the vocal learning system in female zebra finches

10.1101/2020.03.28.011932 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ha Na Choe ◽

Jeevan Tewari ◽

Kevin W. Zhu ◽

Matthew Davenport ◽

Hiroaki Matsunami ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Expression Profiles ◽

Critical Role ◽

Vocal Learning ◽

Song Learning ◽

Learning System ◽

Normal Male ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Song System ◽

Estrogen Synthesis

AbstractSex hormones alter the organization of the brain during early development and coordinate various behaviors throughout life. In zebra finches, song learning is limited to males, and the associated song learning brain pathway only matures in males and atrophies in females. This atrophy can be reversed by giving females exogenous estrogen during early post-hatch development, but whether normal male song system development requires estrogen is uncertain. For the first time in songbirds, we administered exemestane, a potent third generation estrogen synthesis inhibitor, from the day of hatching until adulthood. We examined the behavior, brain, and transcriptome of individual song nuclei of these pharmacologically manipulated animals. We found that males with long-term exemestane treatment had diminished male-specific plumage, impaired song learning, but retained normal song nuclei sizes and most, but not all, of their specialized transcriptome. Consistent with prior findings, females with long-term estrogen treatment retained a functional song system, and we further observed their song nuclei had specialized gene expression profiles similar, but not identical to males. We also observed that different song nuclei responded to estrogen manipulation differently, with Area X in the striatum being the most altered by estrogen modulation. These findings support the hypothesis that song learning is an ancestral trait in both sexes, which was subsequently suppressed in females of some species, and that estrogen has come to play a critical role in modulating this suppression as well as refinement of song learning.

Download Full-text

Regulation of learned vocal behavior by an auditory motor cortical nucleus in juvenile zebra finches

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.01035.2010 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 106 (1) ◽

pp. 291-300 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Katja Naie ◽

Richard H. R. Hahnloser

Keyword(s):

Zebra Finch ◽

Brain Area ◽

Primary Afferents ◽

Song Learning ◽

Significant Source ◽

Vocal Behavior ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Auditory Input ◽

Cortical Nucleus ◽

Song Production

In the process of song learning, songbirds such as the zebra finch shape their initial soft and poorly formed vocalizations (subsong) first into variable plastic songs with a discernable recurring motif and then into highly stereotyped adult songs. A premotor brain area critically involved in plastic and adult song production is the cortical nucleus HVC. One of HVC's primary afferents, the nucleus interface of the nidopallium (NIf), provides a significant source of auditory input to HVC. However, the premotor involvement of NIf has not been extensively studied yet. Here we report that brief and reversible pharmacological inactivation of NIf in juvenile birds leads to transient degradation of plastic song toward subsong, as revealed by spectral and temporal song features. No such song degradation is seen following NIf inactivation in adults. However, in both juveniles and adults NIf inactivation leads to a transient decrease in song stereotypy. Our findings reveal a contribution of NIf to song production in juveniles that agrees with its known role in adults in mediating thalamic drive to downstream vocal motor areas during sleep.

Download Full-text

A subcortical circuit linking the cerebellum to the basal ganglia engaged in vocal learning

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.32167 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Ludivine Pidoux ◽

Pascale Le Blanc ◽

Carole Levenes ◽

Arthur Leblois

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Vocal Learning ◽

Song Learning ◽

Sensorimotor Learning ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Subcortical Structures ◽

Song Production ◽

Cerebellar Lesions ◽

Avian Song

Speech is a complex sensorimotor skill, and vocal learning involves both the basal ganglia and the cerebellum. These subcortical structures interact indirectly through their respective loops with thalamo-cortical and brainstem networks, and directly via subcortical pathways, but the role of their interaction during sensorimotor learning remains undetermined. While songbirds and their song-dedicated basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuitry offer a unique opportunity to study subcortical circuits involved in vocal learning, the cerebellar contribution to avian song learning remains unknown. We demonstrate that the cerebellum provides a strong input to the song-related basal ganglia nucleus in zebra finches. Cerebellar signals are transmitted to the basal ganglia via a disynaptic connection through the thalamus and then conveyed to their cortical target and to the premotor nucleus controlling song production. Finally, cerebellar lesions impair juvenile song learning, opening new opportunities to investigate how subcortical interactions between the cerebellum and basal ganglia contribute to sensorimotor learning.

Download Full-text

Song Decrystallization in Adult Zebra Finches Does Not Require the Song Nucleus NIf

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00293.2009 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 102 (2) ◽

pp. 979-991 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Arani Roy ◽

Richard Mooney

Keyword(s):

Adult Male ◽

Auditory Feedback ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Vocal Plasticity ◽

Song System ◽

Auditory Responses ◽

Anterior Forebrain ◽

Made In

In adult male zebra finches, transecting the vocal nerve causes previously stable (i.e., crystallized) song to slowly degrade, presumably because of the resulting distortion in auditory feedback. How and where distorted feedback interacts with song motor networks to induce this process of song decrystallization remains unknown. The song premotor nucleus HVC is a potential site where auditory feedback signals could interact with song motor commands. Although the forebrain nucleus interface of the nidopallium (NIf) appears to be the primary auditory input to HVC, NIf lesions made in adult zebra finches do not trigger song decrystallization. One possibility is that NIf lesions do not interfere with song maintenance, but do compromise the adult zebra finch's ability to express renewed vocal plasticity in response to feedback perturbations. To test this idea, we bilaterally lesioned NIf and then transected the vocal nerve in adult male zebra finches. We found that bilateral NIf lesions did not prevent nerve section–induced song decrystallization. To test the extent to which the NIf lesions disrupted auditory processing in the song system, we made in vivo extracellular recordings in HVC and a downstream anterior forebrain pathway (AFP) in NIf-lesioned birds. We found strong and selective auditory responses to the playback of the birds' own song persisted in HVC and the AFP following NIf lesions. These findings suggest that auditory inputs to the song system other than NIf, such as the caudal mesopallium, could act as a source of auditory feedback signals to the song motor network.

Download Full-text

Comparison of Auditory, Language, Memory, and Attention Abilities in Children With and Without Listening Difficulties

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2020_aja-20-00018 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 710-727

Author(s):

Beula M. Magimairaj ◽

Naveen K. Nagaraj ◽

Alexander V. Sergeev ◽

Natalie J. Benafield

Keyword(s):

Auditory Processing ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Group Differences ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Significant Group ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory And Attention ◽

Speed And Accuracy

Objectives School-age children with and without parent-reported listening difficulties (LiD) were compared on auditory processing, language, memory, and attention abilities. The objective was to extend what is known so far in the literature about children with LiD by using multiple measures and selective novel measures across the above areas. Design Twenty-six children who were reported by their parents as having LiD and 26 age-matched typically developing children completed clinical tests of auditory processing and multiple measures of language, attention, and memory. All children had normal-range pure-tone hearing thresholds bilaterally. Group differences were examined. Results In addition to significantly poorer speech-perception-in-noise scores, children with LiD had reduced speed and accuracy of word retrieval from long-term memory, poorer short-term memory, sentence recall, and inferencing ability. Statistically significant group differences were of moderate effect size; however, standard test scores of children with LiD were not clinically poor. No statistically significant group differences were observed in attention, working memory capacity, vocabulary, and nonverbal IQ. Conclusions Mild signal-to-noise ratio loss, as reflected by the group mean of children with LiD, supported the children's functional listening problems. In addition, children's relative weakness in select areas of language performance, short-term memory, and long-term memory lexical retrieval speed and accuracy added to previous research on evidence-based areas that need to be evaluated in children with LiD who almost always have heterogenous profiles. Importantly, the functional difficulties faced by children with LiD in relation to their test results indicated, to some extent, that commonly used assessments may not be adequately capturing the children's listening challenges. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12808607

Download Full-text

Behavior in the Brain

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000016 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 76-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Martin M. Monti ◽

Adrian M. Owen

Keyword(s):

Motor Behavior ◽

Functional Neuroimaging ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Motor Output ◽

The Unconscious ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

Brain Responses ◽

Minimally Conscious ◽

Brain Insults ◽

Brain Behavior

Recent evidence has suggested that functional neuroimaging may play a crucial role in assessing residual cognition and awareness in brain injury survivors. In particular, brain insults that compromise the patient’s ability to produce motor output may render standard clinical testing ineffective. Indeed, if patients were aware but unable to signal so via motor behavior, they would be impossible to distinguish, at the bedside, from vegetative patients. Considering the alarming rate with which minimally conscious patients are misdiagnosed as vegetative, and the severe medical, legal, and ethical implications of such decisions, novel tools are urgently required to complement current clinical-assessment protocols. Functional neuroimaging may be particularly suited to this aim by providing a window on brain function without requiring patients to produce any motor output. Specifically, the possibility of detecting signs of willful behavior by directly observing brain activity (i.e., “brain behavior”), rather than motoric output, allows this approach to reach beyond what is observable at the bedside with standard clinical assessments. In addition, several neuroimaging studies have already highlighted neuroimaging protocols that can distinguish automatic brain responses from willful brain activity, making it possible to employ willful brain activations as an index of awareness. Certainly, neuroimaging in patient populations faces some theoretical and experimental difficulties, but willful, task-dependent, brain activation may be the only way to discriminate the conscious, but immobile, patient from the unconscious one.

Download Full-text