Integration of brain circuits for the control and plasticity of vocal communication signals

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A number of vertebrates, including humans and songbirds, critically depend on learned vocal signals for social communication. Of particular importance for vocal communication is the manner in which communicative gestures are sequenced, since variation in vocal sequencing can affect the saliency, meaning, and interpretability of signals. Therefore, it is important to understand how the nervous system learns and controls the sequencing of vocal gestures. Songbirds like the Bengalese finch and zebra finch provide an excellent opportunity to elucidate mechanisms of vocal motor control and learning. Like human speech, birdsong consists of discrete acoustic elements (‘syllables’) that are learned during development and sequenced in a precise manner. Like humans, songbirds critically rely on vocal signals for social communication, and social interactions and sensory feedback acutely modulate the sequencing of syllables. Furthermore, songbirds possess discrete neural circuits for song control and learning that are accessible for monitoring and manipulation and that are analogous to neural circuits for vocal motor control and learning in mammals. These aspects make songbirds a powerful model system to reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying vocal communication. My research program will elucidate the neurobiological foundations underlying the learning and control of vocal motor sequencing. I will integrate behavioral, neurochemical, computational, and neurophysiological approaches to test the hypothesis that learned auditory representations of song statistics (i.e., syllable sequencing) are represented in brain areas homologous to auditory association cortex and transformed into sensorimotor representations in forebrain areas that are analogous to premotor cortex in mammals. My research program will reveal neurochemical contributions to vocal motor sequencing, auditory and sensorimotor mechanisms underlying the learning and plasticity of syllable sequencing in juvenile and adult songbirds, and neural mechanisms underlying innate biases in vocal sequence learning. These experiments will provide comprehensive insight into brain mechanisms underlying the control, plasticity, and development of evolutionarily important behaviors, offer diverse and technologically-advanced training for young Canadian and international scientists, and promote the creation of innovative strategies to study behavioral control and plasticity.