Neural activity in cortico-basal ganglia circuits of juvenile songbirds encodes performance during goal-directed learning

Abstract
Article and author information
Metrics

Abstract

Cortico-basal ganglia circuits are thought to mediate goal-directed learning by a process of outcome evaluation to gradually select appropriate motor actions. We investigated spiking activity in core and shell subregions of the cortical nucleus LMAN during development as juvenile zebra finches are actively engaged in evaluating feedback of self-generated behavior in relation to their memorized tutor song (the goal). Spiking patterns of single neurons in both core and shell subregions during singing correlated with acoustic similarity to tutor syllables, suggesting a process of outcome evaluation. Both core and shell neurons encoded tutor similarity via either increases or decreases in firing rate, although only shell neurons showed a significant association at the population level. Tutor similarity predicted firing rates most strongly during early stages of learning, and shell but not core neurons showed decreases in response variability across development, suggesting that the activity of shell neurons reflects the progression of learning.

Article and author information

Author details

Jennifer M Achiro

Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3978-1647
John Shen

Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Sarah Bottjer

Section of Neurobiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

For correspondence
sarahbottjer@gmail.com

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4365-9166

Funding

NIH Office of the Director (Research grant NS087506)

Sarah Bottjer

NIH Office of the Director (Training grant DC009975)

Sarah Bottjer

NIH Office of the Director (Training fellowship NS 073323)

Jennifer M Achiro

NIH Office of the Director (Research grant 037547)

Sarah Bottjer

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All procedures were performed in accordance with Protocol #9159 approved by the University of Southern California Animal Care and Use Committee and in accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health.

Copyright

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.