Neural Basis of Song Perception in birds

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目标是更好地了解鸣禽鸣唱控制系统在成年鸣禽同种鸣唱感知中的作用。鸣禽不仅要学会鸣叫，还要学会通过听觉交流来识别同种个体。先前的研究已经确定，对歌曲控制系统内区域的损伤会改变鸟类区分熟悉歌曲的能力。此外，分子技术已被用来关联听觉经验与蛋白质磷酸化的神经元内的歌曲控制系统。本实验将探讨鸣禽处理听觉信息和形成长时记忆的机制和结构。三个假设将被测试：（1）CREB的磷酸化是必要的形成新的听觉记忆，（2）前脑前通路是必要的熟悉的歌曲的识别，和（3）新纹状体核HVc是必要的同种歌曲的感知。我将通过模拟野生鸣禽麻雀在繁殖季节保卫领地时的社会互动来检验假设（1）和（2）。假设（3）将在实验室中使用操作性条件反射任务对金丝雀进行检验。这些研究将增加我们对鸣禽感知和学习识别同种鸣禽的方式的了解。

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.