Baby songbirds learn to sing the same way human infants learn to speak—by listening to and mimicking their parents. Join us as Dr. Allison J. Doupe shows how the specialized brain circuits (basal ganglia circuits) of songbirds, like the Zebra Finch, are providing insight into human motor learning and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and addiction.

The Neural Basis of Vocal Learning in Songbirds

At present Dr. Doupe's lab is focused on a particular song circuit, the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP). Numerous behavioral studies have suggested that this specialized basal ganglia circuit plays an essential role in song learning. Using a variety of physiological, behavioral, anatomical, and theoretical techniques, her lab is studying how the different features of song are represented in this network, how the animal's auditory experience and vocal learning shape its neuronal properties, and what the crucial function of this pathway might be.

Since the bird normally hears its own song only during singing, the lab has begun recording from this pathway in awake, behaving birds. This has demonstrated that AFP neurons are also highly active when the bird sings, and carry signals related to the motor act of singing as well as auditory responses. Behavioral experiments, using lesions of this pathway, suggest that these neurons may be required any time the bird changes its song, even in adulthood, and may encode an error signal when auditory feedback does not match the intended vocal output. Moreover, the activity of these neurons is dramatically affected by different social settings (singing alone vs. singing to a companion), raising the possibility that this circuit may also be involved in social modulation of singing and song learning.