Neural Correlates of Executive Control in the Avian Brain

Rose, Jonas; Colombo, Michael

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030190

Cited by 108 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

118

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Rose and Colombo [31] examined whether neurons in the avian NCL also engaged in selective filtering of information. Pigeons were trained on a directed-forgetting version of a DMS task in which following the sample period was a cue period during which either a high-frequency tone (HT) or low-frequency tone (LT) was played (Fig.…”

Section: Neural Correlates Of Executive Control In Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the cue and delay periods, activity was sampled across their entire 2-s and 3-s periods, respectively. For further details see [31]. Note the sustained activation seen in the cue and delay periods.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples of three delay neurons recorded from the brain of a bird playing a DMS task are shown in Fig. 2 [31]. This figure shows the baseline firing rate of the neurons during the intertrial interval period when the animal is not engaging memory, and a sustained activation during the delay period when memory is required.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ITI: intertrial interval; S: sample stimulus. Reprinted from [31]. tained activation could simply reflect an increased attentional state directed at the spatial location where the stimuli might be presented [21].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Milmine

Rose

Colombo

2008

Brain Research Bulletin

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We review our studies examining neural correlates of directed forgetting and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex. One of the fundamental forms of executive control is the ability to selectively filter information, retaining that which is critical for the current purposes and discarding that which is not. In our first experiment, we trained birds on a directed-forgetting version of a delayed matching-to-sample task. Following a sample stimulus, a bird heard either a remember tone indicating that a memory test would follow, or a forget tone indicating that no memory test would be given. We found that neural activity in the avian prefrontal cortex increased when the bird was told to remember, and decreased when the bird was told to forget. Behavioral probe tests confirmed that the animals were forgetting on forget trials.Although the sustained activation observed on remember trials and the absence of such activation on forget trials could be a code of remembering and forgetting the sample stimulus, it could also be a code of the possibility of obtaining a reward. To address this issue we conducted a second study in which we used three cues: remember, forget, and forget-reward. The forget-reward cue instructed the subject to forget the sample yet at the same time provided a free reward. Neural activity on forget-reward trials matched that on remember trials tentatively indicating that the sustained activation on remember trials might be a reward code rather than a sample stimulus code. Behavioral probe tests, however, failed to indicate that the animals were forgetting on forget-reward trials, and hence it still is possible that the sustained activation could be a code for memory of the sample stimulus. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Keywords: Sustained activation; Neural correlates of memory; Delay cells; Executive control; Prefrontal cortex; Nidopallium caudolaterale That we remember is self evident, yet how remembering is expressed in the activity of neurons is almost completely unknown. One possible mechanism that has been proposed is that of sustained activation [4,9,20]. Sustained activation is best understood with reference to the delayed matching-to-sample (DMS) task, a classic test of short-term memory in animals [23]. At the end of an intertrial interval (ITI), a sample stimulus (e.g., a circle or a line) is presented on the center of three projectors (see Fig. 1). After the subject makes a response to the sample stimulus, the sample stimulus is turned off for a period of time (delay) during which memory for the sample stimulus is activated. At the end of the delay period, both stimuli (circle and line) appear on the side projectors (comparison). A correct response requires * Corresponding author.E-mail address: colombo@psy.otago.ac.nz (M. Colombo). the subject to select the comparison stimulus that was the same as the sample stimulus. In the case of trial n in Fig. 1, the correct response is to press the circle stimulus, which results in a reward. Selecting the incorrect sti...

show abstract

Section: Neural Correlates Of Executive Control In Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Milmine

Rose

Colombo

2008

Brain Research Bulletin

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The birds' lineage diverged from mammals 300 Mya (19), at a time when the neocortex had not yet developed from the pallium of the endbrain. Instead, birds developed different pallial parts as dominant endbrain structures (20,21) based on convergent evolution, with the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) as a highlevel association area (22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Where and how numerosity is encoded in vertebrates lacking a neocortex is unknown.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurons selective to the number of visual items in the corvid songbird endbrain

Ditz

Nieder

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

156

187

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is unknown whether anatomical specializations in the endbrains of different vertebrates determine the neuronal code to represent numerical quantity. Therefore, we recorded single-neuron activity from the endbrain of crows trained to judge the number of items in displays. Many neurons were tuned for numerosities irrespective of the physical appearance of the items, and their activity correlated with performance outcome. Comparison of both behavioral and neuronal representations of numerosity revealed that the data are best described by a logarithmically compressed scaling of numerical information, as postulated by the WeberFechner law. The behavioral and neuronal numerosity representations in the crow reflect surprisingly well those found in the primate association cortex. This finding suggests that distantly related vertebrates with independently developed endbrains adopted similar neuronal solutions to process quantity.single-cell recordings | crow | nidopallium caudolaterale | quantity B irds show elaborate quantification skills (1-3) that are of adaptive value in naturalistic situations like nest parasitism (4), food caching (5), or communication (6). The neuronal correlates of numerosity representations have only been explored in humans (7-9) and primates (10-18), and they have been found to reside in the prefrontal and posterior parietal neocortices. In contrast to primates, birds lack a six-layered neocortex. The birds' lineage diverged from mammals 300 Mya (19), at a time when the neocortex had not yet developed from the pallium of the endbrain. Instead, birds developed different pallial parts as dominant endbrain structures (20, 21) based on convergent evolution, with the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) as a highlevel association area (22-26). Where and how numerosity is encoded in vertebrates lacking a neocortex is unknown. Here, we show that neurons in the telencephalic NCL of corvid songbirds respond to numerosity and show a specific code for numerical information. ResultsCrows were trained in a delayed matching-to-sample task to match the number of (one to five) dots presented on touch-sensitive computer displays ( Fig. 1 A and B). Crows watched two displays (first sample, then test) separated by a 1-s delay. They were trained to peck at the displays on the screen if the test displays contained the same number of items as the sample. We varied the exact physical appearance of the displays by randomly placing dots in arbitrary locations, and by randomly choosing dot size.The crows performed the task proficiently (73.8 ± 0.4% and 77.5 ± 0.5% correct over all recording sessions for crow A and crow J, respectively; Fig. 1C). Average performance of both crows was significantly better than chance (50%) for all sample numerosities relative to the numerically most distant nonmatches (Binomial test, P < 0.01). Better performance for sample numerosities at the low (one) and high (five) numerosity range (Fig. 1D) are most likely due to "endeffects," because one and five items had to be discriminated only fro...

show abstract

A comparative analysis of the dopaminergic innervation of the executive caudal nidopallium in pigeon, chicken, zebra finch, and carrion crow

Eugen

Tabrik

Güntürkün

et al. 2020

J of Comparative Neurology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the long, separate evolutionary history of birds and mammals, both lineages developed a rich behavioral repertoire of remarkably similar executive control generated by distinctly different brains. The seat for executive functioning in birds is the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) and the mammalian equivalent is known as the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Both are densely innervated by dopaminergic fibers, and are an integration center of sensory input and motor output. Whereas the variation of the PFC has been well documented in different mammalian orders, we know very little about the NCL across the avian clade. In order to investigate whether this structure adheres to species-specific variations, this study aimed to describe the trajectory of the NCL in pigeon, chicken, carrion crow and zebra finch. We employed immunohistochemistry to map dopaminergic innervation, and executed a Gallyas stain to visualize the dorsal arcopallial tract that runs between the NCL and the arcopallium. Our analysis showed that whereas the trajectory of the NCL in the chicken is highly comparable to the pigeon, the two Passeriformes show a strikingly different pattern. In both carrion crow and zebra finch, we identified four different subareas of high dopaminergic innervation that span the entire caudal forebrain. Based on their sensory input, motor output, and involvement in dopamine-related cognitive control of the delineated areas here, we propose that at least three morphologically different subareas constitute the NCL in these songbirds. Thus, our study shows that comparable to the PFC in mammals, the NCL in birds varies considerably across species.

show abstract

Neural Correlates of Executive Control in the Avian Brain

Cited by 108 publications

References 65 publications

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Neurons selective to the number of visual items in the corvid songbird endbrain

A comparative analysis of the dopaminergic innervation of the executive caudal nidopallium in pigeon, chicken, zebra finch, and carrion crow

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About