Reward associated with singing behavior correlates with opioid-related gene expression in the medial preoptic nucleus in male European starlings.

ABSTRACT: Birdsong consists of species-specific learned vocal sequences that are used primarily to attract mates and to repel competitors during the breeding season. However, many birds continue to sing at times when vocal production has no immediate or obvious impact on conspecific behavior. The mechanisms that ensure that animals produce important behaviors in contexts in which the function of these behaviors is not immediate or obvious are not known. One possibility is that animals engage in such behaviors because they are associated with pleasure. Here we examined the hypothesis that male European starlings sing outside of the breeding season in part because the act of singing in this context is facilitated and/or maintained by opioid-mediated reward. We measured song-associated reward using a c

SUBMITTER: Riters LV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4270752 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature