Defining the Neuromuscular Mechanisms of Vocal Error Correction

定义声音纠错的神经肌肉机制

• 批准号: 8717041
• 负责人: Kyle Harish Srivastava
• 金额: $ 4.27万
• 依托单位: GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-15 至 2017-01-14
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8717041
• 关键词: Accounting; Acoustics; Adolescent; Adult; Affect; American; Anatomy; Animal Model; Animals; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Paradigm; Biological Models; Brain; Cell Nucleus; Development; Disease; Electric Stimulation; Electrodes; Electromyography; Electrophysiology (science); Foundations; Future; Generations; Goals; Human; Implanted Electrodes; Individual; Intramuscular; Learning; Maps; Mechanics; Modeling; Modification; Motor; Motor Neurons; Muscle; Neurons; Organ; Output; Pattern; Performance; Physiological; Production; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Research Proposals; Signal Transduction; Songbirds; Speech; Speech Disorders; Synapses; System; Techniques; Testing; Tracer; Weight; Work; auditory feedback; base; bird song; design; effective therapy; human subject; improved; innovation; insight; member; mind control; motor control; neuromuscular; neurophysiology; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; research study; sensory feedback; vocal control; vocal learning

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The transformation of neural signals to muscle activity to behavioral output defines how the brain controls behavior, and a full account of brain function demands that we understand this transformation. Vocal motor control is critical to our ability to communicate, and yet we still do not understand how the brain controls vocal muscle activity and acoustic output. This gap in understanding hinders our ability to understand the general principles of vocal behavior and develop effective treatments for the various speech disorders affecting millions of Americans. The well-characterized and relatively simple organization of the songbird brain makes it an ideal model system for understanding normal and disordered vocal control. Furthermore, our lab has developed innovative behavioral paradigms that use auditory feedback manipulations to induce vocal error correction in adult songbirds, providing a model for the auditory feedback manipulations used to treat vocal disorders in humans. The research described in my proposal will include experimental approaches not possible in human subjects to learn how altered sensory feedback can modify patterns of vocal muscle activation during vocal error correction and reveal how such adaptive modifications are implemented by the brain. The proposed research will therefore significantly advance the songbird as an animal model for investigating the mechanisms and optimizing the design of behavioral paradigms for vocal rehabilitation. The objective of this proposal is to quantify how patterns of vocal muscle activity are transformed into acoustic output, reshaped during vocal error correction, and controlled by individual premotor neurons (i.e. those that directly activate motor neurons, which in turn activate the vocal muscles). This work will utilize electrophysiology to record premotor neurons and electromyography (EMG) to record vocal muscles. It is hypothesized that each premotor neuron controls multiple muscles, each of which, in turn, controls multiple acoustic parameters and, thus, subsets of vocal muscles must change their activity in concert to shift individual acoustic parameters of song during vocal learning. Aim 1 wil reveal the mechanics of the transformation from vocal muscle activity to acoustic parameters. Acoustic features of song will be correlated with EMG activity recorded using intramuscular electrodes, and targeted electrical stimulation of single vocal muscles will be used to drive changes in those acoustic features. Aim 2 will quantify changes in vocal muscle activity during vocal learning to demonstrate how the songbird system implements learning using the available mechanics of the vocal organ. Aim 3 will characterize the functional projections from single premotor neurons to the vocal muscles using simultaneous neural and muscular recording. Quantitative analysis (spike-triggered EMG) will then be used to determine whether individual premotor neurons control single or multiple muscles to drive song. This work will provide insight into the neuromuscular mechanisms underlying vocal learning and motor control while laying a foundation for future studies in speech control and sensorimotor learning.

描述(申请人提供)：神经信号到肌肉活动再到行为输出的转换定义了大脑如何控制行为，并充分说明了我们理解这种转换所需的大脑功能。发声运动控制对我们的交流能力至关重要，但我们仍然不知道大脑如何控制发声肌肉活动和声音输出。这种理解上的差距阻碍了我们理解发声行为的一般原则，并为影响数百万美国人的各种言语障碍开发有效的治疗方法。鸣禽大脑的良好特征和相对简单的组织使其成为了解正常和紊乱的发声控制的理想模型系统。此外，我们的实验室开发了创新的行为范式，使用听觉反馈操作来诱导成年鸣禽的发声纠正，为用于治疗人类发声障碍的听觉反馈操作提供了一个模型。我的提案中描述的研究将包括在人类受试者中不可能的实验方法，以了解改变的感觉反馈如何在发声纠错过程中修改声带肌肉的激活模式，并揭示这种适应性修改是如何由大脑实施的。因此，这项拟议的研究将极大地推动鸣禽作为动物模型来研究发声康复的机制和优化行为范式的设计。这项建议的目的是量化发声肌肉活动的模式是如何转换为声音输出，在发声纠错过程中重塑，并由单个运动前神经元(即那些直接激活运动神经元，进而激活声带肌肉的神经元)控制的。这项工作将利用电生理学来记录运动前神经元，并利用肌电(EMG)来记录发声肌肉。假设每个运动前神经元控制多个肌肉，每一个肌肉又控制多个声学参数，因此，在声乐学习过程中，发声肌肉的亚群必须协同改变它们的活动来改变歌曲的单个声学参数。目的1揭示声带肌肉活动向声学参数转化的机制。歌曲的声学特征将与使用肌肉内电极记录的肌电活动相关联，对单个发声肌肉的有针对性的电刺激将被用来驱动这些声学特征的变化。目标2将量化发声学习过程中发声肌肉活动的变化，以演示鸣禽系统如何利用发声器官的可用机械来实现学习。目标3将使用同时的神经和肌肉记录来描述从单个运动前神经元到声带肌肉的功能投射。然后将使用定量分析(棘波触发的肌电)来确定单个运动前神经元是否控制单个或多个肌肉来驱动歌曲。这项工作将对语音学习和运动控制的神经肌肉机制提供深入的见解，并为未来在语音控制和感觉运动学习方面的研究奠定基础。