Brain activation pattern depends on the strategy chosen by zebra finches to solve an orientation task

Abstract

SUMMARYZebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) were trained to find food in one of four feeders on the floor of an aviary. This feeder was always in the same place during training and was additionally marked by a distinct pattern. In the test trial the distinctly patterned feeder was interchanged with one of the other feeders, so that the birds had to decide to use either the pattern or the original location for finding food. Half of the birds used one strategy and half used the other. According to the strategy applied, different brain areas were activated, as demonstrated by c-Fos immunohistochemistry. The hippocampus was activated when spatial cues were used, while in birds orienting using the pattern of the feeder, part of the collothalamic (tectofugal) visual system showed stronger activation. The visual wulst of the lemnothalamic (thalamofugal) visual system was activated with both strategies, indicating an involvement in both spatial and pattern-directed orientation. Because the experimental situation was the same for all zebra finches, the activation pattern was only dependent on the strategy that was voluntarily chosen by each of the birds.

Roots of a social brain: Developmental models of emerging animacy-detection mechanisms

“…Similarly, in zebra finches, the lateral nido-mesopallium shows more IEG activation in males after a first exposure to a female (Lieshoff et al, 2004;Bischof, 2002, 2006) and also after orienting based on visual textual cues (Mayer and Bischof, 2012). The two areas investigated in pigeons and zebra finches receive inputs from entopallium Wild, 2004, 2005;Sadananda and Bischof, 2006;Sadananda et al, 2007) and might be comparable in the two species (Shimizu et al, 2010).…”

“…Aiming to determine which regions of the chick brain undergo plastic changes, Egorova and Anokhin (2003) measured neuronal activity-dependent immediate early gene expression (cfos) of chicks after priming in a running wheel or acoustical stimulation and compared them with the unstimulated controls. Immediate early genes are supposed to play an important role in neuronal plasticity related to learning (Guzowski, 2002;Jones et al, 2001;Kubik et al, 2007;Lanahan and Worley, 1998) and have been successfully used to stain neuronal activity in mammals as well as in birds (Cole et al, 1989;Mayer and Bischof, 2012;Mayer et al, 2010;Mello et al, 1992;Milbrandt, 1987;Smulders and DeVoogd, 2000). By focusing on the brain areas that have been activated by both kinds of non-visual activating experiences, Egorova and Anokhin intended to find the areas involved in emergence of predispositions.…”

Across sex and age: Learning and memory and patterns of avian hippocampal gene expression.

“…In zebra finches, HP IEG expression is enhanced in learning and memory tasks requiring use of spatial cues (Mayer & Bischof, 2012). Interestingly, we found that expression was greater during “middle-age” in the HP of females compared to males.…”

Telencephalic Neuronal Activation Associated with Spatial Memory in the Terrestrial Toad <b><i>Rhinella arenarum:</i></b> Participation of the Medial Pallium during Navigation by Geometry

“…This is perhaps surprising because in mammals [e.g. Packard et al, 1989] and birds [Mayer and Bischof, 2012; see also Shimizu et al, 2004] such guidance strategies typically recruit the Str or some other telencephalic structure. In this context, we were therefore not surprised by the trend of greater activation in the Str in the Geometry-Feature group.…”

“…The data from the DP are less easy to interpret, but here general visual processing may be relevant. We therefore hypothesize that the LP, and to a lesser extent the DP, region in the terrestrial toad R. arenarum is in some way involved in spatial guidance by visual cues resembling the telencephalic-tectofugal activation in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) associated with locating a goal by visual features [Mayer and Bischof, 2012].…”