Auditory Mechanisms for Complex Acoustic Communication

描述(由申请人提供)：要理解任何复杂行为的神经基础，包括人类语言，一个关键的挑战是发展合适的动物模型。然而，对于语言，长期以来的理论观点认为，许多潜在的认知能力是人类独有的。然而，我们最近已经证明，欧洲八哥是一种鸣禽，它可以获得并使用从同种歌声序列中提取的复杂模式规则，从而显示出以前被认为是人类独有的句法处理能力。我们最近还发现，听觉前脑区CMM(类似于哺乳动物的听觉皮质)中的单个神经元，在(而且只在)成年八哥学会识别的歌曲中获得了声学特征的明确表示。这些结果的结合为我们在理解感知和认知时间模式声通信信号的神经、生物学和行为机制方面提供了一个独特的机会。我们提出了一系列的神经生理学和行为学研究，以利用这一机会，总的目标是建立鸟鸣作为句法加工的神经生物学机制的模型系统。我们将检查上升听觉层次中依赖经验的歌曲选择反应，测试与CMM相邻的听觉区域显示行为相关歌曲的选择性表征的假设。我们将在行为水平上研究时间模式感知和句法规则学习，以了解鸟类如何独立于模式元素声学而应用学习的模式规则(即句法)，这可能是鸟类和人类之间的一个关键区别。最后，我们将通过检验这样一个假设，即描述歌曲主题模式的句法规则的获得导致所获得的句法在CMM和/或相邻区域中的显式表征，来直接探索时间模式识别和句法处理的神经基础。这些研究的结果将为人类语言基础计算过程的生物学研究建立一个模型系统。因此，这项基础研究大大推进了对儿童和认知障碍成年人的各种语言和交流障碍的临床治疗前景。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A critical challenge in understanding the neural basis of any complex behavior, including human language, is the development of appropriate animal models. Yet, for language, longstanding theoretical positions hold that many of the underlying cognitive capabilities are uniquely human. We have recently demonstrated, however, that European starlings, a species of song bird, can acquire and use complex patterning rules extracted from sequences of conspecific songs, thereby exhibiting syntactic processing abilities previously thought unique to humans. We have also recently shown that single neurons in the auditory forebrain region CMM, an analog to mammalian auditory cortex, acquire explicit representations of acoustic features in (and only in) the songs that adult starlings have learned to recognize. The combination of these results provides a unique opportunity for significant advancement in our understanding of the neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms for the perception and cognition of temporally patterned acoustic communication signals. We propose a series of neurophysiological and behavioral studies that capitalize on this opportunity with the overall goal of establishing birdsong as a model system for the neurobiological mechanisms of syntactic processing. We will examine experience-dependent song-selective responses in the ascending auditory hierarchy, testing the hypothesis that the auditory regions adjacent to CMM show selective representations of behaviorally relevant songs. We will examine temporal pattern perception and syntactic rule learning at the behavioral level to understand how learned patterning rules (i.e. syntax) can be applied by birds independent of pattern element acoustics, perhaps a crucial distinction between birds and humans. Finally, we will explore the neural bases of temporal pattern recognition and syntactic processing directly, by testing the hypothesis that the acquisition of syntactic rules describing patterns of song motifs leads to explicit representation of the acquired syntax in CMM and/or adjacent regions. The results of these studies will establish songbirds a model system for biological study of fundamental computational processes that underlie human language. This basic research therefore advances significantly the promise of clinical treatment for a variety of language and communication disorders, in children and cognitively impaired adults.