Neural Basis of Song Perception in birds

描述(由申请人提供)：这项建议的目的是为了更好地了解鸣禽鸣叫控制系统在成年鸣禽感知同种鸣叫中的作用。鸣禽不仅要学会产生歌声，还要学会基于听觉交流识别同种个体。先前的研究已经证实，鸣叫控制系统内区域的损伤会改变鸟类辨别熟悉歌声的能力。此外，分子技术已经被用来将听觉体验与歌曲控制系统神经元内的蛋白质磷酸化联系起来。拟议中的实验将研究鸣禽处理听觉信息和形成长期记忆所需的机制和结构。将检验三个假说：(1)CREB的磷酸化是形成新的听觉记忆所必需的；(2)前脑前通路是识别熟悉的歌曲所必需的；(3)新纹状体HVC核是感知同种歌曲所必需的。我将在野生歌雀身上测试假设(1)和(2)，通过模拟鸟类在繁殖季节保卫自己领土时的社会互动。假设(3)将在实验室用金丝雀进行测试，使用操作性条件反射任务。这些研究将增加我们对鸣禽感知和学习识别同种鸣声的方式的了解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to better understand the role of the song control system in the perception of conspecific song in adult songbirds. Songbirds must not only learn to produce songs, but also learn to recognize conspecific individuals based on auditory communication. Previous research has established that lesions to areas within the song control system alter a bird's ability to make discriminations between familiar songs. Also, molecular techniques have been used to correlate auditory experience with protein phosphorylation within neurons of the song control system. The proposed experiments will investigate both the mechanisms and structures necessary for songbirds to process auditory information and form long term memories. Three hypotheses will be tested: (1) the phosphorylation of CREB is necessary in the formation of new auditory memories, (2) the anterior forebrain pathway is necessary for the recognition of familiar songs, and (3) the neostriatal nucleus HVc is necessary for the perception of conspecific song. I will test hypotheses (1) and (2) in wild song sparrows by simulating social interactions that the birds have when defending their territories during the breeding season. Hypothesis (3) will be tested with canaries in the laboratory using an operant conditioning task. These studies will increase our knowledge of the way in which songbirds perceive and learn to recognize the songs of conspecifics.