Two neural streams, one voice: Pathways for theme and variation in the songbird brain

Bertram, Richard; Daou, Arij; Hyson, Richard L.; Johnson, Frank; Wu, Wei

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.07.061

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 90 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A series of parallel efferent axon bundles then exit HVC toward RA, terminating in an overlapping fashion within RA. It is the HVC‐RA neurons that drive production of the learned song pattern through RA (reviewed in Bertram, Daou, Hyson, Johnson, & Wu, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orthogonal topography in the parallel input architecture of songbird HVC

Elliott

Bertram

et al. 2017

J of Comparative Neurology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Neural activity within the cortical premotor nucleus HVC (acronym is name) encodes the learned songs of adult male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). HVC activity is driven and/or modulated by a group of five afferent nuclei (the Medial Magnocellular nucleus of the Anterior Nidopallium, MMAN; Nucleus Interface, NIf; nucleus Avalanche, Av; the Robust nucleus of the Arcopallium, RA; the Uvaeform nucleus, Uva). While earlier evidence suggested that HVC receives a uniformly distributed and nontopographic pattern of afferent input, recent evidence suggests this view is incorrect (Basista et al., ). Here, we used a double-labeling strategy (varying both the distance between and the axial orientation of dual tracer injections into HVC) to reveal a massively parallel and in some cases topographic pattern of afferent input. Afferent neurons target only one rostral or caudal location within medial or lateral HVC, and each HVC location receives convergent input from each afferent nucleus in parallel. Quantifying the distributions of single-labeled cells revealed an orthogonal topography in the organization of afferent input from MMAN and NIf, two cortical nuclei necessary for song learning. MMAN input is organized across the lateral-medial axis whereas NIf input is organized across the rostral-caudal axis. To the extent that HVC activity is influenced by afferent input during the learning, perception, or production of song, functional models of HVC activity may need revision to account for the parallel input architecture of HVC, along with the orthogonal input topography of MMAN and NIf.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orthogonal topography in the parallel input architecture of songbird HVC

Elliott

Bertram

et al. 2017

J of Comparative Neurology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Neurons in HVC, RA, Area X, and LMAN regulate various aspects of song control and have been implicated in the social modulation of song (Sakata and Vehrencamp, 2012;Brainard and Doupe, 2013;Bertram et al, 2014;Woolley and Kao, 2015). For example, neurophysiological activity in Area X, LMAN, and RA is significantly different when male songbirds perform UD and FD song (Hessler and Doupe, 1999;Kao et al, 2005;Kao and Brainard, 2006;Kao et al, 2008;Sober et al, 2008;Woolley et al, 2014), and manipulations of Area X, LMAN, and RA activity significantly affect the control and social modulation of syllable structure (Vu et al, 1994;Ashmore et al, 2005Ashmore et al, , 2008€ Olveczky et al, 2005;Kao and Brainard, 2006;Hampton et al, 2009;Leblois et al, 2010;Stepanek and Doupe, 2010;Figure 6 Relationship between song features and EGR-1 expression in song control nuclei, independent of social context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forebrain circuits underlying the social modulation of vocal communication signals

Matheson

Sun

Sakata

2015

Developmental Neurobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Across vertebrate species, signalers alter the structure of their communication signals based on the social context. For example, male Bengalese finches produce faster and more stereotyped songs when directing song to females (female-directed [FD] song) than when singing in isolation (undirected [UD] song), and such changes have been found to increase the attractiveness of a male's song. Despite the importance of such social influences, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the social modulation of communication signals. To this end, we analyzed differences in immediate early gene (EGR-1) expression when Bengalese finches produced FD or UD song. Relative to silent birds, EGR-1 expression was elevated in birds producing either FD or UD song throughout vocal control circuitry, including the interface nucleus of the nidopallium (NIf), HVC, the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), Area X, and the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (LMAN). Moreover, EGR-1 expression was higher in HVC, RA, Area X, and LMAN in males producing UD song than in males producing FD song, indicating that social context modulated EGR-1 expression in these areas. However, EGR-1 expression was not significantly different between males producing FD or UD song in NIf, the primary vocal motor input into HVC, suggesting that context-dependent changes could arise de novo in HVC. The pattern of context-dependent differences in EGR-1 expression in the Bengalese finch was highly similar to that in the zebra finch and suggests that social context affects song structure by modulating activity throughout vocal control nuclei.

show abstract

“…In an alternative hypothesis, the activation of the neuronal nuclei responsible for respiration may not only be due to the activity in the telencephalic area flowing downstream but also to the activation in other regions within the brainstem [15][16][17][18]. This does not mean that the timing signals in HVC do not play a crucial role, but that the system has to be analyzed in an integral fashion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling temperature manipulations in a circular model of birdsong production

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The nature of the neural mechanisms in the birdsong motor pathway that lead to the generation of respiratory patterns are a matter of extensive debate. In a top-down control paradigm, vocal gestures emerge from a unique timescale ruled by the telencephalic nucleus HVC, which engages other brain regions downstream. Another possibility is that the generation of motor instructions is distributed throughout the neural network, flowing both upstream and downstream. In this circular architecture, the song results from the integration of more than one timescale. In order to disambiguate these views, we used local focal cooling of HVC in canaries to manipulate the timescale present there. Within the frame of the circular model, we fitted the experimental pressure patterns of different types of syllables, which form a full song. We show that at least two separate timescales must be taken into account to reproduce them, one which is manipulated by cooling while the other remains unchanged. The modifications -stretching and breaking-of the syllables were quantitatively reproduced in this frame.

show abstract

Two neural streams, one voice: Pathways for theme and variation in the songbird brain

Cited by 22 publications

References 90 publications

Orthogonal topography in the parallel input architecture of songbird HVC

Orthogonal topography in the parallel input architecture of songbird HVC

Forebrain circuits underlying the social modulation of vocal communication signals

Modeling temperature manipulations in a circular model of birdsong production

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About