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

有声传播是一种多种多样、不断演变的广泛传播形式。这种多样性是如何在物种内部和物种之间产生和调节的，这是行为学、进化生物学和神经科学中的一个基本问题。我的跨学科研究项目融合了系统、分子和比较神经科学，以揭示声音交流获得、表现和进化的基本机制。我的研究项目专注于像斑马雀这样的鸣鸟，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演的离散神经回路。此外，鸣禽和人类的发声学习和表演都受到多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素等神经调节剂、生物易感性以及通过汇聚机制进化而来的神经回路活动的调节。在接下来的五年里，我的研究计划将研究(I)神经调节对声乐学习和表演的影响，(Ii)声乐学习中潜在的生物学倾向的机制，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、神经药理学和行为学方法来揭示感觉运动回路中的多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素是如何调节发声学习和控制的。我还将揭示学习偏见和感觉运动回路中的活动如何有助于声学模式的出现，这种模式在鸣禽和人类中很普遍。最后，由于假设从前脑感觉运动区到后脑发声中心的直接投射是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，我的研究计划将揭示交流行为学习、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掌握尖端神经科学、分子和分析工具，为他们在学术界和工业领域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.