scholarly journals Striatal Dopamine Modulates Basal Ganglia Output and Regulates Social Context-Dependent Behavioral Variability through D1 Receptors

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (16) ◽  
pp. 5730-5743 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Leblois ◽  
B. J. Wendel ◽  
D. J. Perkel
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Striatal Dopamine ◽  
D1 Receptors ◽  
Behavioral Variability ◽  
Context Dependent

scholarly journals Activity in a Cortical-Basal Ganglia Circuit for Song Is Required for Social Context-Dependent Vocal Variability

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2474-2486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Stepanek ◽  
Allison J. Doupe
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Physiological Changes ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Magnocellular Nucleus ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Vocal Variability

Variability in adult motor output is important for enabling animals to respond to changing external conditions. Songbirds are useful for studying variability because they alter the amount of variation in their song depending on social context. When an adult zebra finch male sings to a female (“directed”), his song is highly stereotyped, but when he sings alone (“undirected”), his song varies across renditions. Lesions of the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (LMAN), the output nucleus of a cortical-basal ganglia circuit for song, reduce song variability to that of the stereotyped “performance” state. However, such lesions not only eliminate LMAN's synaptic input to its targets, but can also cause structural or physiological changes in connected brain regions, and thus cannot assess whether the acute activity of LMAN is important for social modulation of adult song variability. To evaluate the effects of ongoing LMAN activity, we reversibly silenced LMAN in singing zebra finches by bilateral reverse microdialysis of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol. We found that LMAN inactivation acutely reduced undirected song variability, both across and even within syllable renditions, to the level of directed song variability in all birds examined. Song variability returned to pre-muscimol inactivation levels after drug washout. However, unlike LMAN lesions, LMAN inactivation did not eliminate social context effects on song tempo in adult birds. These results indicate that the activity of LMAN neurons acutely and actively generates social context-dependent increases in adult song variability but that social regulation of tempo is more complex.

scholarly journals An Avian Basal Ganglia-Forebrain Circuit Contributes Differentially to Syllable Versus Sequence Variability of Adult Bengalese Finch Song

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 3235-3245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara M. Hampton ◽  
Jon T. Sakata ◽  
Michael S. Brainard
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Behavioral Variability ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Sequence Variability ◽  
Social Modulation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Learned Behaviors ◽  
Magnocellular Nucleus

Behavioral variability is important for motor skill learning but continues to be present and actively regulated even in well-learned behaviors. In adult songbirds, two types of song variability can persist and are modulated by social context: variability in syllable structure and variability in syllable sequencing. The degree to which the control of both types of adult variability is shared or distinct remains unknown. The output of a basal ganglia-forebrain circuit, LMAN (the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium), has been implicated in song variability. For example, in adult zebra finches, neurons in LMAN actively control the variability of syllable structure. It is unclear, however, whether LMAN contributes to variability in adult syllable sequencing because sequence variability in adult zebra finch song is minimal. In contrast, Bengalese finches retain variability in both syllable structure and syllable sequencing into adulthood. We analyzed the effects of LMAN lesions on the variability of syllable structure and sequencing and on the social modulation of these forms of variability in adult Bengalese finches. We found that lesions of LMAN significantly reduced the variability of syllable structure but not of syllable sequencing. We also found that LMAN lesions eliminated the social modulation of the variability of syllable structure but did not detect significant effects on the modulation of sequence variability. These results show that LMAN contributes differentially to syllable versus sequence variability of adult song and suggest that these forms of variability are regulated by distinct neural pathways.

The link between social context-dependent anxious behavior and habenular mast cells in fear-conditioned rats

2019 ◽  
Vol 359 ◽  
pp. 239-246
Author(s):  
Hyunchan Lee ◽  
Taesub Jung ◽  
Woonhee Kim ◽  
Jihyun Noh
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Mast Cells ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Anxious Behavior

scholarly journals Comparative Investigations of Social Context-Dependent Dominance in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Wild Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana)

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake A. Funkhouser ◽  
Jessica A. Mayhew ◽  
Lori K. Sheeran ◽  
John B. Mulcahy ◽  
Jin-Hua Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Macaca Thibetana ◽  
Context Dependent

scholarly journals Assessing visual requirements for social context-dependent activation of the songbird song system

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1655) ◽  
pp. 279-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erina Hara ◽  
Lubica Kubikova ◽  
Neal A Hessler ◽  
Erich D Jarvis
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Related Area ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
The Brain

Social context has been shown to have a profound influence on brain activation in a wide range of vertebrate species. Best studied in songbirds, when males sing undirected song, the level of neural activity and expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) in several song nuclei is dramatically higher or lower than when they sing directed song to other birds, particularly females. This differential social context-dependent activation is independent of auditory input and is not simply dependent on the motor act of singing. These findings suggested that the critical sensory modality driving social context-dependent differences in the brain could be visual cues. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining IEG activation in song nuclei in hemispheres to which visual input was normal or blocked. We found that covering one eye blocked visually induced IEG expression throughout both contralateral visual pathways of the brain, and reduced activation of the contralateral ventral tegmental area, a non-visual midbrain motivation-related area affected by social context. However, blocking visual input had no effect on the social context-dependent activation of the contralateral song nuclei during female-directed singing. Our findings suggest that individual sensory modalities are not direct driving forces for the social context differences in song nuclei during singing. Rather, these social context differences in brain activation appear to depend more on the general sense that another individual is present.

Physiological Insights Into the Social-Context-Dependent Changes in the Rhythm of the Song Motor Program

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 3798-3809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenton G. Cooper ◽  
Franz Goller
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Motor Pattern ◽  
Motor Program ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Learned Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
Single Oscillator ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Almost All

Precisely timed behaviors are central to the survival of almost all organisms. Song is an example of a learned behavior under exquisite temporal control. Song tempo in zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata) is systematically modified depending on social context. When male zebra finches sing to females (directed), it is produced with a faster motor pattern compared with when they sing in isolation (undirected). We measured heart rate and air sac pressure during directed and undirected singing to quantify motivation levels and respiratory timing. Heart rate was significantly higher when male birds sang to females and was negatively correlated with song duration. The change in song tempo between directed and undirected song was accounted for by varying the duration of vocal expiratory events, whereas the duration of silent inspirations was unchanged. Song duration increased with repeated singing during directed song bouts, which was caused by a uniform increase in the duration of both expirations and inspirations. These results illustrate the importance of motivational state in regulating song tempo and demonstrate that multiple timing oscillators are necessary to control the rhythm of song. At least two different neural oscillators are required to control context-dependent changes in song tempo. One oscillator controlling expiratory duration varies as function of social context and another controlling inspiratory duration is fixed. In contrast, the song tempo change affecting expiratory and inspiratory duration within a directed bout of song could be achieved by slowing the output of a single oscillator.

Contribution to the special issue on clinical ethology: The neurobiology of environmentally induced stereotypic behaviours in captive animals: assessing the basal ganglia pathways and cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical circuitry hypotheses

Behaviour ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-52
Author(s):  
Lindsey Kitchenham ◽  
Georgia J. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Subthalamic Nucleus ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Striatal Dopamine ◽  
Deer Mice ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Cortical Circuitry ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The neurobiology of environmentally induced stereotypic behaviours (SBs) (e.g., pacing in zoo carnivores, crib-biting in horses, tail chasing in dogs) is hypothesized to involve altered functioning within the basal ganglia (‘Basal Ganglia (BG) Pathways Hypotheses’) and/or between the basal ganglia and cortex (‘Cortico-Striatal-Thalamo-Cortical (CSTC) Circuits Hypotheses’). We review four decades of relevant studies, critically assessing support for both hypotheses. Currently no BG Pathways or CSTC Circuits hypothesis is fully supported. While some results are partially consistent with some hypotheses (decreased subthalamic nucleus activity in deer mice and C58 mice); others (nucleus accumbens activity in mink and C57 mice) seem to reflect individual differences in SB, but not environmental effects. Yet others can be tentatively rejected: neither elevated striatal dopamine nor the cortico-striatal connection of the sensorimotor circuit seem to be involved for most species studied to date. Further research is now important for understanding the impact of captivity on animals’ functioning.

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