Mechanisms underlying the acquisition, performance, and evolution of vocal communication

声音交流是一种多样化的、不断进化的广泛传播的交流形式。这种多样性是如何在物种内部和物种之间产生和调节的，这是动物行为学、进化生物学和神经科学的一个基本问题。我的跨学科研究项目整合了系统、分子和比较神经科学，以揭示声音交流的获得、表现和进化的基本机制。我的研究项目集中在像斑马雀这样的鸣禽上，因为它们和人类一样，在发育过程中学习发声，并拥有用于发声学习和表现的离散神经回路。此外，鸣禽和人类的声乐学习和表现都受到多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素等神经调节剂、生物倾向和通过趋同机制进化的神经回路活动的调节。在接下来的五年里，我的研究计划将调查(i)神经调节对声乐学习和表现的影响，（ii）声乐学习中潜在的生物倾向机制，以及（iii）声乐学习的神经回路进化机制。例如，我将使用免疫细胞化学、神经药理学和行为方法来揭示多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素在感觉运动回路中如何调节声音学习和控制。我还将揭示在感觉运动回路中的学习偏差和活动如何促进在鸣禽和人类中普遍存在的声音模式的出现。最后，由于从前脑感觉运动区到后脑发声中心的直接投射被假设为脊椎动物发声学习进化的基础，我将使用新颖的高通量遗传条形码和基因组技术来研究这些直接投射的神经解剖学和分子专门化。综上所述，我的研究项目将揭示交际行为的学习、表现和进化的基本机制。我的研究将揭示产生行为多样性的神经机制以及人类和非人类动物之间共享的生物过程。除了产生高影响力的研究外，我的项目还将培训HQP在尖端神经科学、分子和分析工具方面的知识，为他们在学术界和工业界的成功职业生涯做好准备。

Vocal communication is a diverse and evolutionary widespread form of communication. How this diversity is generated and regulated within and across species is a fundamental question in ethology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience. My interdisciplinary research program integrates systems, molecular, and comparative neuroscience to reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying the acquisition, performance, and evolution of vocal communication. My research program focuses on songbirds like zebra finches because they, like humans, learn their vocalizations during development and possess discrete neural circuits for vocal learning and performance. In addition, vocal learning and performance in both songbirds and humans are regulated by neuromodulators like dopamine and norepinephrine, by biological predispositions, and by activity in neural circuitry that have evolved through convergent mechanisms. Over the next five years, my research program will investigate (i) neuromodulatory influences on vocal learning and performance, (ii) mechanisms underlying biological predispositions in vocal learning, and (iii) mechanisms of neural circuit evolution for vocal learning. For example, I will use immunocytochemical, neuropharmacological, and behavioral approaches to reveal how dopamine and norepinephrine in sensorimotor circuits regulate vocal learning and control. I will also reveal how learning biases and activity in sensorimotor circuitry contribute to the emergence of acoustic patterns that are prevalent among songbirds and humans. Finally, because direct projections from sensorimotor areas in the forebrain to hindbrain vocal centers are hypothesized to underlying the evolution of vocal learning across vertebrates, I will examine the neuroanatomical and molecular specializations for these direct projections using novel, high-throughput genetic barcoding and genomic techniques. Taken together, my research program will uncover fundamental mechanisms underlying the learning, performance, and evolution of communicative behaviors. My studies will reveal neural mechanisms that generate behavioral diversity as well as biological processes that are shared between humans and non-human animals. In addition to generating high impact research, my program will also train HQP in cutting-edge neuroscience, molecular, and analytical tools that will prepare them for successful careers in academia and industry.