Rhythmic syllable-related activity in a songbird motor thalamic nucleus necessary for learned vocalizations
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journal.pone.0169568.pdf
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3.86 MB
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Author(s)
Danish, Husain Haiderali
Aronov, Dmitriy
Fee, Michale Sean
Date Issued
June 2017
Journal
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Citation
Danish, Husain H. et al. “Rhythmic Syllable-Related Activity in a Songbird Motor Thalamic Nucleus Necessary for Learned Vocalizations.” Edited by Johan J. Bolhuis. PLOS ONE 12, 6 (June 2017): e0169568 © 2017 Danish et al
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Birdsong is a complex behavior that exhibits hierarchical organization. While the representation of singing behavior and its hierarchical organization has been studied in some detail in avian cortical premotor circuits, our understanding of the role of the thalamus in adult birdsong is incomplete. Using a combination of behavioral and electrophysiological studies, we seek to expand on earlier work showing that the thalamic nucleus Uvaeformis (Uva) is necessary for the production of stereotyped, adult song in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). We confirm that complete bilateral lesions of Uva abolish singing in the 'directed' social context, but find that in the 'undirected' social context, such lesions result in highly variable vocalizations similar to early babbling song in juvenile birds. Recordings of neural activity in Uva reveal strong syllable-related modulation, maximally active prior to syllable onsets and minimally active prior to syllable offsets. Furthermore, both song and Uva activity exhibit a pronounced coherent modulation at 10Hz-a pattern observed in downstream premotor areas in adult and, even more prominently, in juvenile birds. These findings are broadly consistent with the idea that Uva is critical in the sequential activation of behavioral modules in HVC.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169568
