scholarly journals Songbirds can learn flexible contextual control over syllable sequencing

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Veit ◽  
Lucas Y Tian ◽  
Christian J Monroy Hernandez ◽  
Michael S Brainard
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Contextual Control ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Flexible Control ◽  
External Reinforcement ◽  
Vocal Control ◽  
Moment Control ◽  
Specific Sequences

The flexible control of sequential behavior is a fundamental aspect of speech, enabling endless reordering of a limited set of learned vocal elements (syllables or words). Songbirds are phylogenetically distant from humans but share both the capacity for vocal learning and neural circuitry for vocal control that includes direct pallial-brainstem projections. Based on these similarities, we hypothesized that songbirds might likewise be able to learn flexible, moment-by-moment control over vocalizations. Here, we demonstrate that Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica), which sing variable syllable sequences, can learn to rapidly modify the probability of specific sequences (e.g. ‘ab-c’ versus ‘ab-d’) in response to arbitrary visual cues. Moreover, once learned, this modulation of sequencing occurs immediately following changes in contextual cues and persists without external reinforcement. Our findings reveal a capacity in songbirds for learned contextual control over syllable sequencing that parallels human cognitive control over syllable sequencing in speech.

scholarly journals Songbirds can learn flexible contextual control over syllable sequencing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Veit ◽  
Lucas Y Tian ◽  
Christian J Monroy Hernandez ◽  
Michael S Brainard
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Contextual Control ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Flexible Control ◽  
External Reinforcement ◽  
Moment Control ◽  
Specific Sequences

AbstractThe flexible control of sequential behavior is a fundamental aspect of speech, enabling endless reordering of a limited set of learned vocal elements (i.e. syllables or words). Songbirds are phylogenetically distant from humans, but share the capacity for vocal learning as well as neural circuitry for vocal control that includes direct cortical-brainstem projections. Based on these similarities, we hypothesized that songbirds might likewise be able to learn flexible, moment-by-moment control over vocal production. Here, we demonstrate that Bengalese finches, which sing variable syllable sequences, can learn to rapidly modify the probability of specific sequences (e.g. ‘ab-c’ versus ‘ab-d’) in response to arbitrary visual cues. Moreover, once learned, this modulation of sequencing occurs immediately following changes in contextual cues and persists in the absence of external reinforcement. Our findings reveal a capacity in songbirds for learned contextual control over syllable sequencing that parallels aspects of human cognitive control over speech.

scholarly journals Adding colour-realistic video images to audio playbacks increases stimulus engagement but does not enhance vocal learning in zebra finches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Varkevisser ◽  
Ralph Simon ◽  
Ezequiel Mendoza ◽  
Martin How ◽  
Idse van Hijlkema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Frame Rate ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Video Images

AbstractBird song and human speech are learned early in life and for both cases engagement with live social tutors generally leads to better learning outcomes than passive audio-only exposure. Real-world tutor–tutee relations are normally not uni- but multimodal and observations suggest that visual cues related to sound production might enhance vocal learning. We tested this hypothesis by pairing appropriate, colour-realistic, high frame-rate videos of a singing adult male zebra finch tutor with song playbacks and presenting these stimuli to juvenile zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Juveniles exposed to song playbacks combined with video presentation of a singing bird approached the stimulus more often and spent more time close to it than juveniles exposed to audio playback only or audio playback combined with pixelated and time-reversed videos. However, higher engagement with the realistic audio–visual stimuli was not predictive of better song learning. Thus, although multimodality increased stimulus engagement and biologically relevant video content was more salient than colour and movement equivalent videos, the higher engagement with the realistic audio–visual stimuli did not lead to enhanced vocal learning. Whether the lack of three-dimensionality of a video tutor and/or the lack of meaningful social interaction make them less suitable for facilitating song learning than audio–visual exposure to a live tutor remains to be tested.

Attenuation of acute d-amphetamine-induced disruption of conflict resolution by clozapine, but not α-flupenthixol in rats

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 1023-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy C Reichelt ◽  
Mark A Good ◽  
Simon Killcross
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Typical Antipsychotic ◽  
Order Information ◽  
Contextual Control ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Task Setting ◽  
Amphetamine Administration ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
Viable Model

Previous research demonstrates that disruption of forebrain dopamine systems impairs the use of high-order information to guide goal-directed performance, and that this deficit may be related to impaired use of task-setting cues in patients with schizophrenia. Such deficits can be interrogated through conflict resolution, which has been demonstrated to be sensitive to prefrontal integrity in rodents. We sought to examine the effects of acute systemic d-amphetamine administration on the contextual control of response conflict in rats, and whether deficits were reversed through pre-treatment with clozapine or the D1/D2 antagonist α-flupenthixol. Acute d-amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg) disrupted the utilisation of contextual cues; therefore rats were impaired during presentation of stimulus compounds that require conflict resolution. Evidence suggested that this effect was attenuated through pre-treatment with the atypical antipsychotic clozapine (5.0 mg/kg), but not the typical antipsychotic α-flupenthixol (0.25 mg/kg), at doses previously shown to attenuate d-amphetamine-induced cognitive deficits. These studies therefore demonstrate a potentially viable model of disrupted executive function such as that seen in schizophrenia.

Using Contextual and Visual Cues to Improve Sung Word Recognition in Hearing Aid Users

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-405
Author(s):  
Lindsey A Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Music Therapists

Abstract Older adults commonly experience hearing loss that negatively affects the quality of life and creates barriers to effective therapeutic interactions as well as music listening. Music therapists have the potential to address some needs of older adults, but the effectiveness of music interventions is dependent on the perception of spoken and musical stimuli. Nonauditory information, such as contextual (e.g., keywords, picture related to song) and visual cues (e.g., clear view of singer’s face), can improve speech perception. The purpose of this study was to examine the benefit of contextual and visual cues on sung word recognition in the presence of guitar accompaniment. The researcher tested 24 community-dwelling older adult hearing aid (HA) users recruited through a university HA clinic and laboratory under 3 study conditions: (a) auditory stimuli only, (b) auditory stimuli with contextual cues, and (c) auditory stimuli with visual cues. Both visual and contextual nonauditory cues benefited participants on sung word recognition. Participants’ music background and training were predictive of success without nonauditory cues, and visual cues provided greater benefit than contextual cues. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that music therapists increase the accessibility of music interventions reliant upon lyric recognition through the incorporation of clear visual and contextual cues.

Linking Vocal Learning to Social Reward in the Brain

2018 ◽  
pp. 308-336
Author(s):  
Samantha Carouso Peck ◽  
Michael H. Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Social Feedback ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Interconnected System ◽  
Parallel Processes ◽  
Vocal Control ◽  
And Control

The social environment plays an important role in vocal development. In songbirds, social interactions that promote vocal learning are often characterized by contingent responses of adults to early, immature vocalizations. Parallel processes have been discovered in the early speech development of human infants. Why does contingent social feedback facilitate vocal learning so effectively? Answers may be found by connecting the neural mechanisms of vocal learning and control with those involved in processing social reward. This chapter extends the idea of Newman’s social behaviour network, a tightly interconnected system of limbic areas across which social behaviour and motivation are distributed, to an avian social/vocal control network. It explores anatomical and functional overlaps between song circuitry and social-motivational circuitry, describing how circuitry linking basal ganglia with cortical areas serves to integrate social reward with vocal control and may underlie socially guided vocal learning. In species that have evolved socially guided vocal learning, a unique link has been forgedbetween social circuitry and vocal learning systems, such that learning is driven by social motivation.

scholarly journals The effect of contextual cues on the encoding of motor memories

2013 ◽  
Vol 109 (10) ◽  
pp. 2632-2644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Howard ◽  
Daniel M. Wolpert ◽  
David W. Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Motion Cues ◽  
Visual Motion Cues ◽  
Display Location

Several studies have shown that sensory contextual cues can reduce the interference observed during learning of opposing force fields. However, because each study examined a small set of cues, often in a unique paradigm, the relative efficacy of different sensory contextual cues is unclear. In the present study we quantify how seven contextual cues, some investigated previously and some novel, affect the formation and recall of motor memories. Subjects made movements in a velocity-dependent curl field, with direction varying randomly from trial to trial but always associated with a unique contextual cue. Linking field direction to the cursor or background color, or to peripheral visual motion cues, did not reduce interference. In contrast, the orientation of a visual object attached to the hand cursor significantly reduced interference, albeit by a small amount. When the fields were associated with movement in different locations in the workspace, a substantial reduction in interference was observed. We tested whether this reduction in interference was due to the different locations of the visual feedback (targets and cursor) or the movements (proprioceptive). When the fields were associated only with changes in visual display location (movements always made centrally) or only with changes in the movement location (visual feedback always displayed centrally), a substantial reduction in interference was observed. These results show that although some visual cues can lead to the formation and recall of distinct representations in motor memory, changes in spatial visual and proprioceptive states of the movement are far more effective than changes in simple visual contextual cues.

scholarly journals Dopamine depletion affects vocal acoustics and disrupts sensorimotor adaptation in songbirds

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varun Saravanan ◽  
Lukas A Hoffmann ◽  
Amanda L Jacob ◽  
Gordon J Berman ◽  
Samuel J Sober
Keyword(s):  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Feedback Signal ◽  
Sensorimotor Adaptation ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
External Reinforcement ◽  
Corrective Response

AbstractDopamine is hypothesized to convey important error information in reinforcement learning tasks with explicit appetitive or aversive cues. However, during motor skill learning the only available feedback signal is typically an animal’s evaluation of the sensory feedback arising from its own behavior, rather than any external reward or punishment. It has previously been shown that intact dopaminergic signaling from the ventral tegmental area – substantia nigra compacta complex (VTA/SNc) is necessary for vocal learning in response to an external aversive auditory cue in songbirds. However, the role of dopamine in learning in the absence of explicit external cues is still unclear. Here we used male Bengalese finches (Lonchura striatavar.domestica) to test the hypothesis that dopamine signaling is necessary for self-evaluation driven sensorimotor learning. We combined 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of dopaminergic terminals within Area X, a songbird basal ganglia nucleus critical for vocal learning, with a headphones learning paradigm that shifted the birds’ auditory feedback and compared their learning to birds without lesions. We found that 6-OHDA lesions affected song behavior in two ways. First, over a period of days lesioned birds systemically lowered their pitch regardless of the presence or absence of auditory errors. Second, 6-OHDA lesioned birds also displayed severe deficits in sensorimotor learning as measured by their adaptive change in pitch in response to the pitch-shifted auditory error. Our results suggest roles for dopamine both in motor production and in auditory error processing during vocal learning.Significance StatementDopamine has been hypothesized to convey a reward prediction error signal in learning tasks involving external reinforcement. However the role dopamine plays in tasks involving self-guided error correction in the absence of external reinforcement is much less clear. To address this question, we studied the role of dopamine in sensorimotor adaptation using male Bengalese finches, which spontaneously produce a complex motor behavior (song) and are capable of modulating their behavioral output in response to induced auditory errors. Our results reveal that in addition to conveying errors in motor performance, dopamine may also have a role in modulating effort and in choosing a corrective response to the auditory error.

scholarly journals Inhibition of protein synthesis in M1 of monkeys disrupts performance of sequential movements guided by memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machiko Ohbayashi
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Information Storage ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Sequential Movements ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
Extended Practice ◽  
Human Motor ◽  
Inhibitor Of Protein Synthesis

AbstractThe production of action sequences is a fundamental aspect of human motor skills. To examine whether primary motor cortex (M1) is involved in maintenance of sequential movements, we trained two monkeys (Cebus apella) to perform two sequential reaching tasks. In one task, sequential movements were instructed by visual cues, whereas in the other task, movements were generated from memory after extended practice. After the monkey became proficient with performing the tasks, we injected an inhibitor of protein synthesis, anisomycin, into M1 to disrupt information storage in this area. Injection of anisomycin in M1 had a marked effect on the performance of sequential movements that were guided by memory. In contrast, the anisomycin injection did not have a significant effect on the performance of movements guided by vision. These results suggest that M1 of non-human primates is involved in the maintenance of skilled sequential movements.

scholarly journals Contextual control of conditioned pain tolerance and endogenous analgesic systems: Evidence for sex-based differences in endogenous opioid engagement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney Trask ◽  
Jeffrey S. Mogil ◽  
Fred J. Helmstetter ◽  
Cheryl L. Stucky ◽  
Katelyn E. Sadler
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Visceral Pain ◽  
Repeated Administration ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Contextual Control ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Endogenous Opioid ◽  
Vehicle Injection

AbstractThe mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain are unclear but may involve the persistence or strengthening of pain memories acquired in part through associative learning. Contextual cues, which comprise the surrounding environment where events occur, were recently described as a critical regulator of pain memory; both rodents and humans exhibit increased pain sensitivity in environments recently associated with a single painful experience. It is unknown, however, how repeated exposure to an acute painful unconditioned stimulus in a distinct context modifies pain sensitivity or the expectation of pain in that environment. To answer this question, we conditioned mice to associate distinct contexts with either repeated administration of a mild visceral pain stimulus (intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid) or vehicle injection over the course of three days. On the final day of experiments animals received either an acid injection or vehicle injection prior to being placed into both contexts. In this way, contextual control of pain sensitivity and pain expectation could be tested respectively. Both male and female mice developed context-dependent conditional pain tolerance, a phenomenon mediated by endogenous opioid signaling. However, when expecting the presentation of a painful stimulus in a given context, males exhibited conditional hypersensitivity whereas females exhibited endogenous opioid-mediated conditional analgesia. Successful determination of the brain circuits involved in this sexually dimorphic anticipatory response may allow for the manipulation of pain memories, which may contribute to the development of chronic pain states.

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