How does the brain create orderly sequences of behavior? The problem of serial order in behavior permeates human language, the ability to play a musical instrument, or any number of other activities where human or animal intent can only be effectively communicated if several behavioral gestures are chained together in a specific sequence. How the brain accomplishes this task is currently unknown. One approach is to use an animal model (a songbird, the zebra finch) in which the brain region responsible for the serial ordering of song syllables has been identified (called "HVC", the acronym is the proper name). This project will investigate the hypothesis that the serial ordering of song syllables is mapped across several spatially-arranged chains of HVC neurons. This hypothesis is based on preliminary data indicating that HVC neural activity is largely confined to a single spatial axis during singing. Experiments will delineate the spatial organization of connections and electrophysiological properties of HVC neurons. Computational models based on the properties of HVC neurons will then be used to discover network configurations that produce orderly, sequential patterns of neural activity. Models will be validated with circuit-breaking experiments in behaving birds. Results will provide a first look at a network architecture used by an animal brain to create order and sequence in behavior, which in turn will provide a computational platform to understand how the process of learning new behavioral sequences utilizes or shapes such architectures. The research plan coordinates the activity of a faculty research team from three different academic departments (Psychology, Mathematics and Statistics), providing graduate and undergraduate students with access to the expertise of faculty researchers outside their home departments. Computational software tools as well as data from this project will be made available to the public at www.math.fsu.edu/~bertram/software/birdsong/ and at www.songbirdscience.com.
