Age-related changes in the Bengalese finch song motor program

Cooper, Brenton G.; Méndez, Jorge; Saar, Sigal; Whetstone, Addison G.; Meyers, Ron A.; Goller, Franz

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.04.014

Cited by 21 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Such a process of motor consolidation has been previously suggested for zebra finch song based on other data (Brainard and Doupe 2001). Interestingly, one recent study has indicated opposite changes in Bengalese finch song timing in the later years of life, i.e., that songs slow down, mostly due to increases in gap duration (Cooper et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…If true, the chaining hypothesis could also have one of several implications for changes to song in older Bengalese finch birds (Cooper et al 2012): the slowing of tempo could reflect a gradual weakening of synapses, although this would also imply a similar correlation between increases in gap duration and weakening of associated transition probabilities. That study did find decreases in syllable repetition rate, although a specific correlation with gap duration was not reported for those transitions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of temporal structure in zebra finch song

Glaze

Troyer

2013

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Glaze CM, Troyer TW. Development of temporal structure in zebra finch song. J Neurophysiol 109: 1025-1035, 2013. First published November 21, 2012 doi:10.1152/jn.00578.2012.-Zebra finch song has provided an excellent case study in the neural basis of sequence learning, with a high degree of temporal precision and tight links with precisely timed bursting in forebrain neurons. To examine the development of song timing, we measured the following four aspects of song temporal structure at four age ranges between 65 and 375 days posthatch: the mean durations of song syllables and the silent gaps between them, timing variability linked to song tempo, timing variability expressed independently across syllables and gaps, and transition probabilities between consecutive syllable pairs. We found substantial increases in song tempo between 65 and 85 days posthatch, due almost entirely to a shortening of gaps. We also found a decrease in tempo variability, also specific to gaps. Both the magnitude of the increase in tempo and the decrease in tempo variability were correlated on gap-by-gap basis with increases in the reliability of corresponding syllable transitions. Syllables had no systematic increase in tempo or decrease in tempo variability. In contrast to tempo parameters, both syllables and gaps showed an early sharp reduction in independent variability followed by continued reductions over the first year. The data suggest that links between syllable-based representations are strengthened during the later parts of the traditional period of song learning and that song rhythm continues to become more regular throughout the first year of life. Similar learning patterns have been identified in human sequence learning, suggesting a potentially rich area of comparative research. temporal structure; learning; birdsong; generative model SEQUENCE LEARNING is one of the touchstone questions in neuroscience (e.g., Lashley 1951; Hikosaka et al. 2002;Keele et al. 2003;Rhodes et al. 2004), and song learning in zebra finches has served as an excellent model system for understanding sequence learning and production. Adult songs are highly stereotyped and have a well-defined temporal structure spanning multiple time scales. In the zebra finch, song learning can be roughly divided into two overlapping processes (Immelmann 1969;Marler 1970;Konishi 1985;Brainard and Doupe 2000): "sensory acquisition," in which a young bird ϳ20 -65 days posthatch (dph) is exposed to the song of one or more tutors and forms an auditory template; and "sensorimotor learning," in which the juvenile bird ϳ35-90 dph learns to produce song based on that template. Once learned, songs are composed of several repeats of 500-to 1,000-ms-long "motifs," consisting of a sequence of three to seven "syllables," with 50-to 250-ms-long stereotyped vocalizations separated by silent gaps. In adult zebra finch song, the spectral features of individual song syllables are highly stereotyped, as are the timing and sequencing of syllable production. However, few studies have focu...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of temporal structure in zebra finch song

Glaze

Troyer

2013

Journal of Neurophysiology

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“…Cardoso et al (2012) likewise found no associations between components of trill performance and condition in dark-eyed juncos ( Junco hymenalis ). A direct effect of health and condition on song performance parameters has only been described in a few species (Pasch et al 2011; Ritschard and Brumm 2012), but senescence is associated with decreased song performance in two avian species (Rivera-Gutierrez et al 2012; Cooper et al 2012). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trill performance components vary with age, season, and motivation in the banded wren

Vehrencamp

Yantachka

Hall

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Acoustic displays with difficult-to-execute sounds are often subject to strong sexual selection, because performance levels are related to the sender’s condition or genetic quality. Performance may also vary with age, breeding stage, and motivation related to social context. We focused on within-male variation in four components of trill performance in banded wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) songs: note consistency, frequency bandwidth, note rate and vocal deviation. The latter is a composite measure reflecting deviation from the performance limit on simultaneously maximizing both frequency bandwidth and note rate. We compared the changes in these song parameters at three time scales: over the course of years, across the breeding season, and at different times of the day with contrasting agonistic contexts. Vocal deviation decreased and note consistency increased over years, suggesting that experience may improve individual proficiency at singing trills. Consistency also increased across the season, confirming that practice is important for this parameter. Although there was no significant seasonal change in vocal deviation, one of its components, note rate, increased during the season. Neither vocal deviation nor consistency varied with agonistic context. However, note rate increased during playback experiments simulating territorial intrusions compared to dawn chorus singing. The magnitude of a male’s increase in note rate was positively correlated with his aggressive behavior during the playback experiment. Thus consistency, bandwidth, and vocal deviation indicate age, whereas trill rate flexibly indicates the singer’s aggressive motivation. We also found evidence of a within-male trade-off between vocal deviation and consistency.

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“…Increased song variability was previously observed to be correlated to the amount of song in younger adult zebra finches [N=18 between 120 and 200days old (Hilliard et al, 2012)]. Both Bengalese and zebra finches undergo age-related changes in vocal quality and the ability to exhibit vocal plasticity (Brainard and Doupe, 2001;Cooper et al, 2012), thus they may undergo age-related changes in how molecular microcircuits impact behavior. Further, age-and speciesrelated differences in basal vocal variability may have statistically limited our ability to detect these changes.…”

Section: Vocal Variability After Vocal Practicementioning

confidence: 98%

Expression analysis of the speech-related genes FoxP1 and FoxP2 and their relation to singing behavior in two songbird species

Chen

Heston

Burkett

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYHumans and songbirds are among the rare animal groups that exhibit socially learned vocalizations: speech and song, respectively. These vocal-learning capacities share a reliance on audition and cortico-basal ganglia circuitry, as well as neurogenetic mechanisms. Notably, the transcription factors Forkhead box proteins 1 and 2 (FoxP1, FoxP2) exhibit similar expression patterns in the cortex and basal ganglia of humans and the zebra finch species of songbird, among other brain regions. Mutations in either gene are associated with language disorders in humans. Experimental knock-down of FoxP2 in the basal ganglia song control region Area X during song development leads to imprecise copying of tutor songs. Moreover, FoxP2 levels decrease naturally within Area X when zebra finches sing. Here, we examined neural expression patterns of FoxP1 and FoxP2 mRNA in adult Bengalese finches, a songbird species whose songs exhibit greater sequence complexity and increased reliance on audition for maintaining their quality. We found that FoxP1 and FoxP2 expression in Bengalese finches is similar to that in zebra finches, including strong mRNA signals for both factors in multiple song control nuclei and enhancement of FoxP1 in these regions relative to surrounding brain tissue. As with zebra finches, when Bengalese finches sing, FoxP2 is behaviorally downregulated within basal ganglia Area X over a similar time course, and expression negatively correlates with the amount of singing. This study confirms that in multiple songbird species, FoxP1 expression highlights song control regions, and regulation of FoxP2 is associated with motor control of song.

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Age-related changes in the Bengalese finch song motor program

Cited by 21 publications

References 16 publications

Development of temporal structure in zebra finch song

Development of temporal structure in zebra finch song

Trill performance components vary with age, season, and motivation in the banded wren

Expression analysis of the speech-related genes FoxP1 and FoxP2 and their relation to singing behavior in two songbird species

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