Auditory Processing in Songbirds

鸣禽的听觉处理

• 批准号: 6634558
• 负责人: Sarah M Woolley
• 金额: $ 4.81万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-07-01 至
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6634558
• 关键词: auditory nuclei; auditory stimulus; developmental neurobiology; learning; mesencephalon; neural information processing; postdoctoral investigator; songbirds; vocalization

Auditory experience is essential for song learning and, in some species, for the maintenance of normal adult song patterns. The connectivity and functioning of brain nuclei controlling song learning, perception and production have been extensively examined. Together, these nuclei are called the song system. In the song system, auditory neurons show specialized sensitivity to the bird's own song. This specialized auditory tuning develops as the bird is learning to produce its song. The song system receives its primary sensory input from the auditory system, yet very little is known about how vocalizations are processed by the auditory system. My long-term goal is to characterize the processing of vocalizations used for communication in the songbird auditory system and to examine the role of this processing in song learning and maintenance. The proposed research will examine the processing of natural and synthetic sounds in the songbird auditory midbrain region, the mesencephalicus lateralis, pars dorsalis (MLd). This brain region is the avian homologue of the mammalian inferior colliculus (IC), where specialized responses to conspecific vocalizations are found in bats and mice. The first set of experiments will characterize the spectral temporal tuning of Mld neurons. Characterizations will be done both directly using conventional methods (Le by characterizing a neuron's frequency tuning curves, amplitude modulation and frequency modulation responses) and indirectly by first estimating the spectral temporal receptive fields (STRFs) of neurons with complex synthetic stimuli and then extracting the tuning parameters of the neurons from the STRF. Our second Specific Aim is to assess whether the spectral-temporal characteristics completely describe the response properties on Mld neurons or whether higher order structure (such as that found in natural sound) can also affect their responses. The third Aim will begin to address the issue of auditory tuning for conspecific vocalizations. We will characterize the responses of MLd neurons in two species of songbird, zebra finches and bengalese finches, to conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations. These experiments will test whether or not Mld neurons are specialized to extract the acoustic features of conspecific vocal signals. Taken together, the experiments are designed to provide the first examination of auditory processing related to vocal communication in the songbird midbrain.

听觉体验对于歌曲学习至关重要，对于某些物种来说，对于维持正常的成年歌曲模式至关重要。控制歌曲学习、感知和产生的脑核的连接性和功能已被广泛研究。这些核一起被称为歌曲系统。在鸣叫系统中，听觉神经元对鸟自己的鸣叫表现出特殊的敏感性。当鸟儿学习发出歌声时，这种特殊的听觉调谐就会发展起来。歌曲系统从听觉系统接收其主要感官输入，但对于听觉系统如何处理发声却知之甚少。我的长期目标是描述鸣禽听觉系统中用于交流的发声处理的特征，并研究这种处理在歌曲学习和维持中的作用。拟议的研究将检查鸣禽听觉中脑区域、外侧中脑、脊髓部（MLd）对自然和合成声音的处理。这个大脑区域与哺乳动物的下丘 (IC) 相似，在鸟类中同源，在蝙蝠和小鼠中发现了对同种发声的特殊反应。第一组实验将表征 Mld 神经元的频谱时间调谐。表征可以直接使用传统方法（即通过表征神经元的频率调谐曲线、幅度调制和频率调制响应）来完成，也可以通过首先估计具有复杂合成刺激的神经元的频谱时间感受野（STRF），然后从 STRF 中提取神经元的调谐参数来间接完成。我们的第二个具体目标是评估频谱-时间特征是否完全描述了 Mld 神经元的响应特性，或者高阶结构（例如自然声音中发现的结构）是否也会影响它们的响应。第三个目标将开始解决同种发声的听觉调节问题。我们将描述斑胸草雀和孟加拉雀这两种鸣鸟的 MLd 神经元对同种和异种发声的反应。这些实验将测试 Mld 神经元是否专门提取同种声音信号的声学特征。总而言之，这些实验旨在首次检查鸣禽中脑中与声音交流相关的听觉处理。