Convergence in Vocal Premotor Coding

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is not known if optimal coding strategies exist for learned motor behavior. Vocal learning is an excellent behavior in which this issue can be examined because all vocal learning species share similar constraints. This research will ask if parrots encode vocal representations in a manner similar to the vocal coding strategy previously described in songbirds. Birdsong is coded by a sparse-to-detailed temporal code between two premotor forebrain nuclei. This application asks if this coding strategy obtains in an analogous premotor circuit in the parrot forebrain. We will examine this issue using single cell chronic recordings during the production of learned vocalizations in an Australian parrot, the budgerigar. These studies will allow us to accurately assess the relation between motor output and premotor neural activity. If similar coding strategies are not evident among songbirds and parrots, it suggests that premotor representations for learned vocalizations are not highly constrained even among birds. Alternatively, if coding strategies are retained it will spur further investigation into other vocal learning species in order to establish a comparative data set for future cladistic analysis for coding strategies for learned vocalizations more generally.