scholarly journals Auditory Feedback and Song Production Do Not Regulate Seasonal Growth of Song Control Circuits in Adult White-Crowned Sparrows

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (25) ◽  
pp. 6810-6814 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Brenowitz ◽  
K. Lent ◽  
E. W. Rubel
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Seasonal Growth ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Control Circuits ◽  
Song Control

scholarly journals Neurophysiological coordination of duet singing

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (23) ◽  
pp. e2018188118
Author(s):  
Melissa J. Coleman ◽  
Nancy F. Day ◽  
Pamela Rivera-Parra ◽  
Eric S. Fortune
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Control Area ◽  
Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Field Site ◽  
Acoustic Feedback ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Song Control

Coordination of behavior for cooperative performances often relies on linkages mediated by sensory cues exchanged between participants. How neurophysiological responses to sensory information affect motor programs to coordinate behavior between individuals is not known. We investigated how plain-tailed wrens (Pheugopedius euophrys) use acoustic feedback to coordinate extraordinary duet performances in which females and males rapidly take turns singing. We made simultaneous neurophysiological recordings in a song control area “HVC” in pairs of singing wrens at a field site in Ecuador. HVC is a premotor area that integrates auditory feedback and is necessary for song production. We found that spiking activity of HVC neurons in each sex increased for production of its own syllables. In contrast, hearing sensory feedback produced by the bird’s partner decreased HVC activity during duet singing, potentially coordinating HVC premotor activity in each bird through inhibition. When birds sang alone, HVC neurons in females but not males were inhibited by hearing the partner bird. When birds were anesthetized with urethane, which antagonizes GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric acid) transmission, HVC neurons were excited rather than inhibited, suggesting a role for GABA in the coordination of duet singing. These data suggest that HVC integrates information across partners during duets and that rapid turn taking may be mediated, in part, by inhibition.

Hemispheric Coordination Is Necessary for Song Production in Adult Birds: Implications for a Dual Role for Forebrain Nuclei in Vocal Motor Control

2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin C. Ashmore ◽  
Mark Bourjaily ◽  
Marc F. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Commissure ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Dual Role ◽  
Critical Feature ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
Output Structure ◽  
Complex Motor ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song

Precise coordination across hemispheres is a critical feature of many complex motor circuits. In the avian song system the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) plays a key role in such coordination. It is simultaneously the major output structure for the descending vocal motor pathway, and it also sends inputs to structures in the brain stem and thalamus that project bilaterally back to the forebrain. Because all birds lack a corpus callosum and the anterior commissure does not interconnect any of the song control nuclei directly, these bottom-up connections form the only pathway that can coordinate activity across hemispheres. In this study, we show that unilateral lesions of RA in adult male zebra finches ( Taeniopigia guttata) completely and permanently disrupt the bird's stereotyped song. In contrast, lesions of RA in juvenile birds do not prevent the acquisition of normal song as adults. These results highlight the importance of hemispheric interdependence once the circuit is established but show that one hemisphere is sufficient for complex vocal behavior if this interdependence is prevented during a critical period of development. The ability of birds to sing with a single RA provides the opportunity to test the effect of targeted microlesions in RA without confound of functional compensation from the contralateral RA. We show that microlesions cause significant changes in song temporal structure and implicate RA as playing a major part in the generation of song temporal patterns. These findings implicate a dual role for RA, first as part of the program generator for song and second as part of the circuit that mediates interhemispheric coordination.

scholarly journals The Adjustment of Anterior Forebrain Pathway (AFP) to Birdsong Is Phased during Song Learning and Maintenance

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jie Zang ◽  
Shenquan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Exact Role ◽  
Anterior Forebrain Pathway ◽  
Anterior Forebrain ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Two Phases

Anterior forebrain pathway (AFP), a basal ganglia-dorsal forebrain circuit, significantly impacts birdsong, specifically in juvenile or deaf birds. Despite many physiological experiments supporting AFP’s role in song production, the mechanism underlying it remains poorly understood. Using a computational model of the anterior forebrain pathway and song premotor pathway, we examined the dynamic process and exact role of AFP during song learning and distorted auditory feedback (DAF). Our simulation suggests that AFP can adjust the premotor pathway structure and syllables based on its delayed input to the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA). It is also indicated that the adjustment to the synaptic conductance in the song premotor pathway has two phases: normal phases where the adjustment decreases with an increasing number of trials and abnormal phases where the adjustment remains stable or even increases. These two phases alternate and impel a specific effect on birdsong based on AFP’s specific structures, which may be associated with auditory feedback. Furthermore, our model captured some characteristics shown in birdsong experiments, such as similarities in pitch, intensity, and duration to real birds and the highly abnormal features of syllables during DAF.

Seasonal Growth of Song Control Nuclei Precedes Seasonal Reproductive Development in Wild Adult Song Sparrows

2001 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Tramontin ◽  
Nicole Perfito ◽  
John C. Wingfield ◽  
Eliot A. Brenowitz
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Development ◽  
Seasonal Growth ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Song Control Nuclei ◽  
Song Control

scholarly journals Social Context Rapidly Modulates the Influence of Auditory Feedback on Avian Vocal Motor Control

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 2485-2497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon T. Sakata ◽  
Michael S. Brainard
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Performance Framework ◽  
The Social ◽  
Song Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
Motor Production ◽  
Computerized System

Sensory feedback is important for the learning and control of a variety of behaviors. Vocal motor production in songbirds is a powerful model system to study sensory influences on behavior because the learning, maintenance, and control of song are critically dependent on auditory feedback. Based on previous behavioral and neural experiments, it has been hypothesized that songs produced in isolation [undirected (UD) song] represent a form of vocal practice, whereas songs produced to females during courtship interactions [female-directed (FD) song] represent a form of vocal performance. According to this “practice versus performance” framework, auditory feedback should be more influential when birds engage in vocal practice than when they engage in vocal performance. To directly test this hypothesis, we used a computerized system to perturb auditory feedback at precise locations during the songs of Bengalese finches and compared the degree to which feedback perturbations caused song interruptions as well as changes to the sequencing and timing of syllables between interleaved renditions of UD and FD song. We found that feedback perturbation caused fewer song interruptions and smaller changes to syllable timing during FD song than during UD song. These data show that changes in the social context in which song is produced rapidly modulate the influence of auditory feedback on song control in a manner consistent with the practice versus performance framework. More generally, they indicate that, for song, as for other motor skills including human speech, the influence of sensory feedback on activity within vocal premotor circuitry can be dynamically modulated.

scholarly journals Interhemispheric dominance switching in a neural network model for birdsong

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 1186-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Galvis ◽  
Wei Wu ◽  
Richard L. Hyson ◽  
Frank Johnson ◽  
Richard Bertram
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Network Model ◽  
Neural Network Model ◽  
Behavioral Effects ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Primary Input ◽  
Song System ◽  
Cortical Nucleus ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Song Control

Male zebra finches produce a sequence-invariant set of syllables, separated by short inspiratory gaps. These songs are learned from an adult tutor and maintained throughout life, making them a tractable model system for learned, sequentially ordered behaviors, particularly speech production. Moreover, much is known about the cortical, thalamic, and brain stem areas involved in producing this behavior, with the premotor cortical nucleus HVC (proper name) being of primary importance. In a previous study, our group developed a behavioral neural network model for birdsong constrained by the structural connectivity of the song system, the signaling properties of individual neurons and circuits, and circuit-breaking behavioral studies. Here we describe a more computationally tractable model and use it to explain the behavioral effects of unilateral cooling and electrical stimulations of HVC on song production. The model demonstrates that interhemispheric switching of song control is sufficient to explain these results, consistent with the hypotheses proposed when the experiments were initially conducted. Finally, we use the model to make testable predictions that can be used to validate the model framework and explain the effects of other perturbations of the song system, such as unilateral ablations of the primary input and output nuclei of HVC. NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this report, we propose a two-hemisphere neural network model for the bilaterally symmetrical song system underlying birdsong in the male zebra finch. This model captures the behavioral effects of unilateral cooling and electrical stimulations of the premotor cortical nucleus HVC during song production, supporting the hypothesis of interhemispheric switching of song control. We use the model to make testable predictions regarding the behavioral effects of other unilateral perturbations to the song system.

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