Songbirds represent one of the few animal model systems for the study of the acquisition of human speech. Birds learn their song during development, and have a well-delineated forebrain circuitry devoted to learning and producing song. Area X is a part of the neural circuitry involved in song acquisition and modulation. Area X is also a part of the avian basal ganglia and receives a strong input from midbrain dopaminergic nuclei. Cells in Area X respond to changes in social context: their activity changes depending on whether males are singing in isolation or singing to a female. The proposed studies will investigate the role of dopamine in modulating neural activity in Area X under different social contexts, and how changes in activity in Area X may affect the responses of other nuclei in the learning pathway. Given both the homology and similarity between Area X and mammalian striatum, as well as the ecological and behavioral relevance of the bird song system, the merging of the two fields of study would provide considerable information toward understanding plasticity and song production in birds, as well as insight into striatal function in a behaviorally relevant paradigm. ? ?
| Woolley, Sarah C; Rajan, Raghav; Joshua, Mati et al. (2014) Emergence of context-dependent variability across a basal ganglia network. Neuron 82:208-23 |
| Woolley, Sarah C; Doupe, Allison J (2008) Social context-induced song variation affects female behavior and gene expression. PLoS Biol 6:e62 |
