Co-evolution of auditory coding and vocal behavior

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。理解进化如何塑造社会沟通的一个主要问题是确定沟通信号发送者和接收者的大脑和行为如何匹配，以便信号（如发声）传达有意义的社会信息。鸣禽被用来解决这个问题，因为他们有天生的倾向，生产和听到自己的物种复杂的发声（歌曲）。然而，它们必须学会在发育过程中发出自己的歌声，并识别其他鸟类的歌声。这个项目的目的是确定如何建立的先天和后天的相互作用的大脑机制，通过测试物种特异性的声音声学和神经听觉调谐之间的关系，以及在歌曲制作和听觉处理的发展经验的作用，介导的声音通信。三个相关的物种，产生非常不同的歌曲将在实验室中提出。有些将被交叉培养，以便一个物种的鸟类体验和学习另一个物种的歌曲。运用行为学、神经生理学和解剖学的综合分析，将确定遗传身份和经验对声音声学和大脑听觉处理中发送者和接收者匹配的贡献。明确的贡献，遗传身份和发展经验，预计将证明杂交歌曲和不同的听觉处理鸟类提出了自己的物种和交叉寄养的鸟类。这项工作将提供一个演示如何引导学习和社会行为的感知机制是在大脑中创建的。了解不同物种的感觉功能如何不同，以及这些差异如何与物种特异性的社会行为相关，将描述大脑进化的一般机制，以支持物种形成和感觉与运动系统之间的功能匹配。这些研究是专门设计的，以最大限度地提高本科生参与研究，该项目包括推广到当地中学系统。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).A major issue in understanding how evolution has shaped social communication is determining how the brains and behavior of communication signal sender and receiver are matched so that signals such as vocalizations convey meaningful social information. Songbirds are used to address this issue because they have innate predispositions for producing and hearing the complex vocalizations (songs) of their own species. Yet, they must learn to produce their own songs during development and to recognize the songs of other birds. The aim of this project is to determine how the interplay of nature and nurture builds the brain mechanisms that mediate vocal communication by testing the relationship between species-specific vocal acoustics and neural auditory tuning, and the role of developmental experience in song production and auditory processing. Three related species that produce very different songs will be raised in the laboratory. Some will be cross-fostered so that birds of one species experience and learn the songs of another species. Using the integrated analysis of behavior, neurophysiology and anatomy, the contributions of genetic identity and experience to the matching of sender and receiver in vocal acoustics and auditory processing in the brain will be determined. Clear contributions of both genetic identity and developmental experience are expected to be demonstrated by hybrid songs and differences in auditory processing between birds raised by their own species and cross-fostered birds. This work will provide a demonstration of how perceptual mechanisms that guide learning and social behavior are created in the brain. Understanding how sensory function differs across species and how those differences are related to species-specific social behavior will describe general mechanisms whereby the brain evolves to support speciation and functional matching between sensory and motor systems. These studies are designed specifically to maximize the participation of undergraduate students in research, and the project includes outreach to the local middle school system.