Neural Mechanisms of Adaptive Vocal Plasticity

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project focuses on the neural processes by which learned motor skills are adjusted when feedback from an animal's actions deviates from expectations. Studies utilize a well-described neural circuit controlling learned birdsong, and will investigate brain mechanisms that promote behavioral change when auditory feedback from an animal's vocalizations deviates from previously learned patterns. The focus is on a forebrain circuit implicated in motor learning across a wide range of vertebrates. Lesions and/or reversible neuronal inactivation will be used to determine if this forebrain circuit is directly responsible for vocal experimentation when auditory feedback signals the need for vocal change. Also, neuroanatomical measures will establish if such feedback-driven behavioral plasticity entails changes in neuronal connections within motor pathways, and whether the propensity for such neural change decreases in older animals. The project will provide training in behavioral, neuropharmacological, and neuroanatomical methods for both undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, knowledge derived from these studies will find its way quickly into the classroom, as the investigators are involved heavily in both undergraduate and graduate neuroscience programs. The broad aims are to understand better how the brain evaluates the consequences of behavior, and to identify some of the mechanisms it uses to adaptively adjust behavior. This information will provide insights into general mechanisms of motor learning and development, as well as adult neural and behavioral plasticity. The work should impact a variety of disciplines ranging from cognitive and sensory-motor neuroscience to neural reorganization.