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

许多脊椎动物，包括人类和鸣禽，严重依赖于学习的声音信号进行社会交流。对于语音交流来说，特别重要的是交流手势的排序方式，因为语音排序的变化会影响信号的显着性、意义和可解释性。因此，了解神经系统如何学习和控制发声手势的顺序是很重要的。 像孟加拉雀和斑马雀这样的鸣禽为阐明发声运动控制和学习的机制提供了一个极好的机会。像人类的语音一样，鸟鸣由离散的声学元素(音节)组成，这些元素是在发育过程中学习的，并以精确的方式进行排序。像人类一样，鸣禽严重依赖声音信号进行社会交流，而社会互动和感官反馈强烈地调整了音节的顺序。此外，鸣禽拥有用于歌唱控制和学习的离散神经电路，可用于监测和操作，类似于哺乳动物用于发声运动控制和学习的神经电路。这些方面使鸣禽成为一个强大的模型系统，可以揭示声音交流的基本机制。 我的研究计划将阐明学习和控制发声运动序列的神经生物学基础。我将结合行为、神经化学、计算和神经生理学的方法来测试这一假设，即获知的歌曲统计的听觉表征(即音节排序)在与听觉关联皮质同源的大脑区域被表征，并在前脑区域转化为感觉运动表征，类似于哺乳动物的运动前皮质。我的研究项目将揭示发声运动序列的神经化学贡献，幼年和成年鸣禽学习和音节序列可塑性的听觉和感觉运动机制，以及发声序列学习中先天偏见的神经机制。这些实验将提供对控制、可塑性和进化重要行为发展潜在的大脑机制的全面洞察，为加拿大和国际青年科学家提供多样化和技术先进的培训，并促进研究行为控制和可塑性的创新策略的创造。

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.