Neural activation in a septal area is related to intrinsic motivation for non-courtship singing in adult zebra finches.

ABSTRACT: Intrinsic motivation, which drives animals, including humans, to exhibit various voluntary behaviors, spontaneously originates within the brain without immediate external stimuli such as rewards or punishments. The zebra finch, a songbird, provides an ideal model for studying the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation because male birds spontaneously produce many renditions of non-courtship song ("undirected song") with a highly quantifiable structure for vocal practice. Here, we identified a brain area associated with intrinsic motivation for undirected singing through brain-wide mapping of neuronal activity using immediate early gene expression in birds with different levels of singing motivation. We found that birds with relatively high singing motivation exhibit increased expression

SUBMITTER: Mori C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11968860 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature