A role for descending auditory cortical projections in songbird vocal learning

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Abstract

Many learned motor behaviors are acquired by comparing ongoing behavior with an internal representation of correct performance, rather than using an explicit external reward. For example, juvenile songbirds learn to sing by comparing their song with the memory of a tutor song. At present, the brain regions subserving song evaluation are not known. Here we report several findings suggesting that song evaluation involves an avian 'cortical' area previously shown to project to the dopaminergic midbrain and other downstream targets. We find that this ventral portion of the intermediate arcopallium (AIV) receives inputs from auditory cortical areas, and that lesions of AIV result in significant deficits in vocal learning. Additionally, AIV neurons exhibit fast responses to disruptive auditory feedback presented during singing, but not during nonsinging periods. Our findings suggest that auditory cortical areas may guide learning by transmitting song evaluation signals to the dopaminergic midbrain and/or other subcortical targets.

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Yael Mandelblat-Cerf

McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States

For correspondence
ycerf@bidmc.harvard.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Liora Las

McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Natalia Denisenko

McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Michale Fee

McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health, were reviewed and approved by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Committee on Animal Care (IACUC). Permit Number: 0712-071-15. Every effort was made to minimize suffering.

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.