Corticobasal ganglia projecting neurons are required for juvenile vocal learning but not for adult vocal plasticity in songbirds.

ABSTRACT: Birdsong, like human speech, consists of a sequence of temporally precise movements acquired through vocal learning. The learning of such sequential vocalizations depends on the neural function of the motor cortex and basal ganglia. However, it is unknown how the connections between cortical and basal ganglia components contribute to vocal motor skill learning, as mammalian motor cortices serve multiple types of motor action and most experimentally tractable animals do not exhibit vocal learning. Here, we leveraged the zebra finch, a songbird, as an animal model to explore the function of the connectivity between cortex-like (HVC) and basal ganglia (area X), connected by HVC_(X) projection neurons with temporally precise firing during singing. By specifically ablating HVC_(X)

SUBMITTER: Sanchez-Valpuesta M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6842584 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature