VOCAL-LEARNING MODEL FOR NEURONAL BASIS ON COGNITION

建议的工作将增加我们对使用的大脑通路的理解 为了获得一项复杂的技能，以及它们之间的联系和 被经验改变了。将使用的对象是两种 鸣鸟，金丝雀和斑马雀，通过模仿来学习它们的歌声 他们听到的声音。将使用顺行和逆行示踪剂进行研究 大脑各部分的连接--输入和输出--涉及 对这种习得行为的控制。胞外和胞内 电极将用来表征神经元的电活动。 在歌曲制作期间，当动物被呈现各种不同的 听起来。在提出的问题中，声音和声音之间的关系是什么 输入和声音输出？以及调节这种关系的途径是什么 受经验、性别、季节和荷尔蒙变量的影响？另一个 被问到的问题是如何通过解剖对称的路径来歌唱 功能，从而在清单控制中产生不对称？健康 这项工作的关联性来自它可能提供的信息 有助于理解决定 “何时”、“什么”、“多少”和“如何”的学习，使故障 脊椎动物大脑的这些更高级的功能可以用更多的 比现在更科学的态度。一个额外的期望，基于 初步观察，是对大脑种类的一种理解 成年期学习中的可塑性可能会告诉我们大脑的 自我修复的可能性和控制它的因素。

The work proposed will increase our understanding of brain pathways used for the acquisition of a complex skill and the way they are connected and altered by experience. The subjects to be used are two species of songbird, the canary and zebra finch, that learn their song by imitating sounds they hear. Anterograde and retrograde tracers will be used to study the connectivity -- inputs and outputs -- of parts of the brain involved in the control of this learned behavior. Extracellular and intracellular electrodes will be used to characterize the electrical activity of neurons during song production and at the time the animal is presented with various sounds. Among the questions asked are, what is the relation between sound input and vocal output?, and how are pathways that mediate this relation affected by experience, sex, season and hormonal variables? Another question asked is how do anatomically symmetrical pathways for singing function so as to generate an asymmetry in manifest control? The health relatedness of this work comes by way of the information it might contribute towards an understanding of the mechanisms that determine the "when", "what", "how much" and "how" of learning, so that malfunction of these higher functions of the vertebrate brain can be approached in a more scientific manner than at present. An added expectation, based on preliminary observations, is that an understanding of the kinds of brain plasticity used in learning in adulthood may tell us about the brain's potential for self-repair and the factors that control it.