Birdsong is an animal model system for exploring issues in sensorimotor integration, learning and memory, and social modulation of behavior. The proposal seeks to develop an understanding of how respiratory and syringeal motor mechanisms of sound production are changed in response to altered acoustic feedback. We have developed a technique for reducing a bird's ability to vocalize. The technique can be maintained for long periods of time and is reversible. We propose to use this technique to alter acoustic feedback, and to examine how motor mechanisms of sound production change in response to this manipulation. Three experiments are proposed. The first will compare song changes in a variety of species following the partial muting procedure. The second experiment will characterize respiratory and syringeal motor compensation following the partial muting procedure, and the last experiment will compare respiratory and syringeal motor changes after deafening and damage to the vocal motor nerve. The results will be further our understanding of how vocal plasticity is manifested in motor correlates of song.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32DC005722-03
Application #
6792609
Study Section
Communication Disorders Review Committee (CDRC)
Program Officer
Sklare, Dan
Project Start
2002-09-01
Project End
2005-08-31
Budget Start
2004-09-01
Budget End
2005-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$49,864
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Utah
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
009095365
City
Salt Lake City
State
UT
Country
United States
Zip Code
84112
Goller, Franz; Cooper, Brenton G (2004) Peripheral motor dynamics of song production in the zebra finch. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1016:130-52
Cooper, Brenton G; Goller, Franz (2004) Partial muting leads to age-dependent modification of motor patterns underlying crystallized zebra finch song. J Neurobiol 61:317-32
Cooper, Brenton G; Goller, Franz (2004) Multimodal signals: enhancement and constraint of song motor patterns by visual display. Science 303:544-6
Waigmann, E; Cohen, Y; McLean, G et al. (1998) Plasmodesmata: gateways for information transfer. Symp Soc Exp Biol 51:43-9