Using seasonality and birdsong to understand mechanisms underlying context-appropriate shifts in social motivation and reward

Riters, Lauren V.; Stevenson, Sharon A.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105156

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 120 publications

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“…We ended this review by highlighting a pathway from the POM to VTA to NAc that appears to contribute context-dependently to positive emotional states that motivate and reward singing behavior (as detailed in prior reviews, Riters, 2011 , 2012 ; Riters et al, 2019 ; Riters and Stevenson, 2022 ). This pathway is also implicated in sexually motivated and playful behaviors in mammals ( Trezza et al, 2011 ; Zhao et al, 2020 ), which underscores the idea that the bird brain has the machinery to regulate positive emotions and the similarity to mammals suggests that findings in birds may generalize to other vertebrates, including potentially humans.…”

Section: Additional Discussion and Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, numerous studies implicate the POM in the production of gregarious song in male, as well as female, starlings (Alger and Riters, 2006;Riters, 2012;Kelm-Nelson and Riters, 2013;Riters et al, 2014;Stevenson et al, 2020), and CPP tests demonstrate the POM to play an important role in the positive emotional state that accompanies gregarious singing behavior (Riters et al, 2014;Stevenson et al, 2020). These studies demonstrate that the POM is a central node that adjusts singing behavior to reflect an individual's motivational and emotional state (Alger and Riters, 2006;Riters and Stevenson, 2022).…”

Section: Nucleus Accumbens As Part Of a Circuit Underlying Positive E...mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…One way in which the POM may infuse singing behavior with reward seeking and intrinsic positive emotion is by accessing the classic “mesolimbic reward system” through projections to the VTA which then sends projections to the NAc ( Riters et al, 2019 ; Riters and Stevenson, 2022 ). There is evidence that the NAc also sends projections to the POM ( Groenewegen and Russchen, 1984 ) forming a circuit that includes three areas strongly implicated in emotion and birdsong ( Figure 9 ).…”

Section: Nucleus Accumbens As Part Of a Circuit Underlying Positive E...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion

et al. 2022

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Birds are not commonly admired for emotional expression, and when they are, the focus is typically on negative states; yet vocal behavior is considered a direct reflection of an individual’s emotional state. Given that over 4000 species of songbird produce learned, complex, context-specific vocalizations, we make the case that songbirds are conspicuously broadcasting distinct positive emotional states and that hearing songs can also induce positive states in other birds. Studies are reviewed that demonstrate that that the production of sexually motivated song reflects an emotional state of anticipatory reward-seeking (i.e., mate-seeking), while outside the mating context song in gregarious flocks reflects a state of intrinsic reward. Studies are also reviewed that demonstrate that hearing song induces states of positive anticipation and reward. This review brings together numerous studies that highlight a potentially important role for the songbird nucleus accumbens, a region nearly synonymous with reward in mammals, in positive emotional states that underlie singing behavior and responses to song. It is proposed that the nucleus accumbens is part of an evolutionarily conserved circuitry that contributes context-dependently to positive emotional states that motivate and reward singing behavior and responses to song. Neural mechanisms that underlie basic emotions appear to be conserved and similar across vertebrates. Thus, these findings in songbirds have the potential to provide insights into interventions that can restore positive social interactions disrupted by mental health disorders in humans.

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Section: Additional Discussion and Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nucleus Accumbens As Part Of a Circuit Underlying Positive E...mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Nucleus Accumbens As Part Of a Circuit Underlying Positive E...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion

et al. 2022

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“…We do not interpret these results to suggest that there is no role for the POM or inputs from the POM to the PAG in gregarious song, as numerous studies implicate the POM in gregarious song (reviewed in Refs. 10 and 19), and projections from the POM to the PAG are implicated in other positive vocal behaviors 27–29 . Immediate early genes are indirect markers of activity and are not always expressed in active brain regions, and in a past study, ZENK in the POM was not found to relate to gregarious song 48 ; however, we hypothesized that perhaps this was because all ZENK‐labeled cells were counted in the past study and it may be expected that only a subset (e.g., those projecting to the PAG) would be associated with singing behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The medial preoptic area, often referred to as POM in birds, plays a central role in adjusting song to match appropriate social contexts (as reviewed in Ref. 19), yet little is known about the role of output pathways from the POM and other neurological mechanisms that integrate motivational/affective states that lead to vocal signals. One pathway that may link affective state and song is the projection from the POM to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) 20–22 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinct patterns of activity within columns of the periaqueductal gray are associated with functionally distinct birdsongs

Asogwa,

Zhao,

Polzin

et al. 2023

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Male songbirds produce female‐directed songs in spring that convey a state of sexual motivation. Many songbirds also sing in fall flocks in affiliative/gregarious contexts in which song is linked to an intrinsic positive affective state. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) in mammals, which is organized into functional columns, integrates information from multiple brain regions and relays this information to vocal motor areas so that an animal emits a vocal signal reflective of its affective state. Here, we test the hypothesis that distinct columns in the songbird PAG play roles in the distinct affective states communicated by sexually motivated and gregarious song. We quantified the numbers of immediate early gene ZENK‐positive cells in 16 PAG subregions in male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) after singing gregarious or sexually motivated song. Results suggest that distinct PAG columns in songbirds context‐specifically regulate song, agonistic, and courtship behaviors. A second exploratory, functional tract‐tracing study also demonstrated that inputs to the PAG from specific subregions of the medial preoptic nucleus may contribute to gregarious song and behaviors indicative of social dominance. Together, findings suggest that conserved PAG columns and inputs from the preoptic nucleus may play a role in context‐specific vocal and other social behaviors.

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