Partial lesions in the anterior forebrain pathway affect song production in adult Bengalese finches

Kobayashi, Keita; Uno, Hiroyuki; Okanoya, Kazuo

doi:10.1097/00001756-200102120-00034

Cited by 69 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Spike timing is highly correlated across HVC, RA, and LMAN (Kimpo et al, 2003), and a requirement for synchronous arrival of LMAN and direct HV-C (RA) input could lead to inelasticity of activity within RA. Moreover, this pathway has been implicated in syllable sequencing in Bengalese finches (Kobayashi et al, 2001), consistent with the proposed role of the basal ganglia in sequential behaviors (Hikosaka et al, 2002;Aldridge et al, 2004;Fujii and Graybiel, 2005).…”

Section: Locus Of Hierarchical Representationssupporting

confidence: 75%

Temporal Structure in Zebra Finch Song: Implications for Motor Coding

2006

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Adult zebra finch songs consist of stereotyped sequences of syllables. Although some behavioral and physiological data suggest that songs are structured hierarchically, there is also evidence that they are driven by nonhierarchical, clock-like bursting in the premotor nucleus HVC (used as a proper name). In this study, we developed a semiautomated template-matching algorithm to identify repeated sequences of syllables and a modified dynamic time-warping algorithm to make fine-grained measurements of the temporal structure of song. We find that changes in song length are expressed across the song as a whole rather than resulting from an accumulation of independent variance during singing. Song length changes systematically over the course of a day and is related to the general level of bird activity as well as the presence of a female. The data also show patterns of variability that suggest distinct mechanisms underlying syllable and gap lengths: as tempo varies, syllables stretch and compress proportionally less than gaps, whereas syllable-syllable and gap-gap correlations are significantly stronger than syllable-gap correlations. There is also increased temporal variability at motif boundaries and especially strong positive correlations between the same syllables sung in different motifs. Finally, we find evidence that syllable onsets may have a special role in aligning syllables with global song structure. Generally, the timing data support a hierarchical view in which song is composed of smaller syllable-based units and provide a rich set of constraints for interpreting the results of physiological recordings.

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Section: Locus Of Hierarchical Representationssupporting

confidence: 75%

Temporal Structure in Zebra Finch Song: Implications for Motor Coding

2006

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“…While the Area X lesions during song development in male zebra finch lead to protracted song variability, similar lesions in adulthood did not lead to changes in quality of song production (Scharff & Nottebohm 1991). On the other hand, Kobayashi et al (2001) did find high abnormal repetition of notes (stuttering) in adult Bengalese finch after bilateral Area X lesions in adulthood. Similarly, detailed analyses including largescale song bout organization revealed transient but substantial motor deficit also in adult zebra finch males after Area X lesions (Kubíková et al 2007).…”

Section: Neuroanatomy Of Vocal Control In Songbirdsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Birdsong: From behaviour to brain

2010

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Although vocal communication is wide-spread in animal kingdom, the use of learned (in contrast to innate) vocalization is very rare. We can find it only in few animal taxa: human, bats, whales and dolphins, elephants, parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds. There are several parallels between human and songbird perception and production of vocal signals. Hence, many studies take interest in songbird singing for investigating the neural bases of learning and memory. Brain circuits controlling song learning and maintenance consist of two pathways -a vocal motor pathway responsible for production of learned vocalizations and anterior forebrain pathway responsible for learning and modifying the vocalizations. This review provides an overview of the song organization, its behavioural traits, and neural regulations. The recently expanding area of molecular mapping of the behaviour-driven gene expression in brain represents one of the modern approaches to the study the function of vocal and auditory areas for song learning and maintenance in birds.

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“…Lesions to songbird Area X and to the human anterior striatum do not prevent the ability to produce already learned speech, but do result in disruption of vocal learning and disruption of some syntax in birds (Sohrabji et al 1990;Scharff and Nottebohm 1991;Kobayashi et al 2001) or verbal aphasias and amusias in humans (Mohr 1976;Bechtereva et al 1979;Leicester 1980;Damasio et al 1982;Alexander et al 1987;Cummings 1993;Speedie et al 1993;Lieberman 2000). Humans can have a combination of symptoms (Mohr 1976) perhaps because, as in non-human mammals, large cortical areas send projections that converge onto relatively smaller striatal areas (Beiser et al 1997).…”

Section: Functions Of Vocal Brain Areas In Birds and Humansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural systems for vocal learning in birds and humans: a synopsis

Jarvis

2007

J Ornithol

101

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I present here a synopsis on a hypothesis that I derived on the similarities and differences of vocal learning systems in vocal learning birds for learned song and in humans for spoken language. This hypothesis states that vocal learning birds-songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds-and humans have comparable specialized forebrain regions that are not found in their close vocal non-learning relatives. In vocal learning birds, these forebrain regions appear to be divided into two sub-pathways, a vocal motor pathway mainly used to produce learned vocalizations and a pallial-basal-gangliathalamic loop mainly used to learn and modify the vocalizations. I propose that humans have analogous forebrain pathways within and adjacent to the motor and pre-motor cortices, respectively, used to produce and learn speech. Recent advances have supported the existence of the seven cerebral vocal nuclei in the vocal learning birds and the proposed brain regions in humans. The results in birds suggest that the reason why the forebrain regions are similar across distantly related vocal learners is that the vocal pathways may have evolved out of a pre-existing motor pathway that predates the ancient split from the common ancestor of birds and mammals. Although this hypothesis will require the development of novel technologies to be fully tested, the existing evidence suggest that there are strong genetic constraints on how vocal learning neural systems can evolve.

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Partial lesions in the anterior forebrain pathway affect song production in adult Bengalese finches

Cited by 69 publications

References 23 publications

Temporal Structure in Zebra Finch Song: Implications for Motor Coding

Temporal Structure in Zebra Finch Song: Implications for Motor Coding

Birdsong: From behaviour to brain

Neural systems for vocal learning in birds and humans: a synopsis

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