Proposal #: IBN-9817889 PI Name: David Perkel
Humans, cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and some birds are the only animals known to learn their vocalizations. Songbirds thus provide a uniquely accessible model system for studying how the brain learns vocal behaviors. The brain structures involved in avian song production and learning are distinct and well defined, but their functional connections are not well understood. The present proposal will examine an avian brain circuit, the anterior forebrain pathway, which (1) is necessary for vocal learning but not song production and (2) resembles a circuit known in mammals to be involved in a variety of motor and cognitive functions.
These experiments will use immunological and electrophysiological techniques to determine whether the AFP, as in its mammalian counterpart, has two sequential stages of inhibitory projections, i.e. whether the same functional wiring occurs in the songbird. Two primary benefits are: (1) clarification of how the circuit works in songbirds to mediate vocal learning and (2) testing for evolutionarily conserved circuitry, which would suggest more general rules for motor learning. Such similarities would provide essential guidance for further experiments aimed at understanding the detailed cellular mechanisms of vocal learning and of motor learning in general.
