A role for descending auditory cortical projections in songbird vocal learning
Open accessAbstract
Many learned motor behaviors are acquired by comparing ongoing behavior with an internal representation of correct performance, rather than using an explicit external reward. For example, juvenile songbirds learn to sing by comparing their song with the memory of a tutor song. At present, the brain regions subserving song evaluation are not known. In this study, we report several findings suggesting that song evaluation involves an avian 'cortical' area previously shown to project to the dopaminergic midbrain and other downstream targets. We find that this ventral portion of the intermediate arcopallium (AIV) receives inputs from auditory cortical areas, and that lesions of AIV result in significant deficits in vocal learning. Additionally, AIV neurons exhibit fast responses to disruptive auditory feedback presented during singing, but not during nonsinging periods. Our findings suggest that auditory cortical areas may guide learning by transmitting song evaluation signals to the dopaminergic midbrain and/or other subcortical targets.
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These detailed pathways underlying the construction of cost functions for vocal learning are beginning to be mapped.
“These detailed pathways underlying the construction of cost functions for vocal learning are beginning to be mapped (Mandelblat-Cerf et al., 2014).”
From Toward an integration of deep learning and neuroscience (2016) · cites this paper as Mandelblat-Cerf et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Mandelblat-Cerf, Y., Las, L., Denisenko, N., & Fee, M. S.
- Affiliations
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research (US)
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
- Corresponding author
- Mandelblat-Cerf, Yael
- Venue
- eLife
- Publisher
- eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
- Published
- 2014-06-16
- Volume
- 3
- ISSN
- 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4113997
- OpenAlex
- W2015916117
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 8.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2014-08-22)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (R01 MH067105)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- songbird vocal learning, auditory cortex, dopaminergic midbrain, auditory feedback, avian forebrain
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Animals, Auditory Cortex, Auditory Pathways, Brain, Learning, Male, Memory, Mesencephalon, Neurons, Reward, Vocalization, Animal, Finches, Feedback, Sensory, Dopaminergic Neurons
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