Abstract
What cortical inputs are provided to motor control areas while they drive complex learned behaviors? We study this question in the nucleus interface of the nidopallium (NIf), which is required for normal birdsong production and provides the main source of auditory input to HVC, the driver of adult song. In juvenile and adult zebra finches, we find that spikes in NIf projection neurons precede vocalizations by several tens of milliseconds and are insensitive to distortions of auditory feedback. We identify a local isometry between NIf output and vocalizations: quasi-identical notes produced in different syllables are preceded by highly similar NIf spike patterns. NIf multiunit firing during song precedes responses in auditory cortical neurons by about 50 ms, revealing delayed congruence between NIf spiking and a neural representation of auditory feedback. Our findings suggest that NIf codes for imminent acoustic events within vocal performance.
Highlights
Some highly skilled learned behaviors, such as speech or birdsong, are encoded primarily in dedicated cortical brain areas [1,2,3,4]
We studied neuronal activity in the brain area located at the intersection between auditory and song motor areas, which is known as the nucleus interface of the nidopallium
By recording during singing from neurons in the nucleus interface of the nidopallium that project to motor areas, we found that their spiking precedes peaks in vocal amplitudes by about 50 ms
Summary
Some highly skilled learned behaviors, such as speech or birdsong, are encoded primarily in dedicated cortical brain areas [1,2,3,4]. Songbirds are ideally suited to decipher neural integration in skilled behaviors because they learn their courtship songs by hearing and memorizing a song template from a tutor and by adjusting their immature songs using auditory feedback [7,8,9,10]. NIf neural activity increases during song production [24,25], but the motor and auditory-related firing patterns in NIf neurons that project to HVC (NIfHVC neurons) have never been investigated in awake, singing birds
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