The Neural Substrate of Emotional Behavior in Birds

Relation between social rank, submissive behavior, and brain catecholamine levels in ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus cholchicus).

“…Exploration of the avian neostriatum with electrical stimulation has resulted in the elicitation of a variety of behaviors dependent in part upon the species tested and the stimuli presented. In the young chicken, stimulation of the neostriatum produced attention and excitement (Putkonen, 1967), and occasionally attack (Phillips & Youngren, 1971;Putkonen, 1973), whereas the Barbary dove (Streptopelia risoria) often showed defensive behavior (Vowles & Beasley, 1974), and the pigeon displayed courtship bowing (Akerman, 1966). In most avians, the sites that reliably produce agonistic responses are in the hypothalamus and not in the neostriatum (Vowles & Beasley, 1974).…”

“…In the young chicken, stimulation of the neostriatum produced attention and excitement (Putkonen, 1967), and occasionally attack (Phillips & Youngren, 1971;Putkonen, 1973), whereas the Barbary dove (Streptopelia risoria) often showed defensive behavior (Vowles & Beasley, 1974), and the pigeon displayed courtship bowing (Akerman, 1966). In most avians, the sites that reliably produce agonistic responses are in the hypothalamus and not in the neostriatum (Vowles & Beasley, 1974). Therefore, if the neostriatum has a role in agonistic behavior, it might be as a modulator rather than a direct participant.…”

Amygdala and Emotional Learning in Vertebrates – A Comparative Perspective

“…Other results in fear context conditioning have showed that lesions of the dorsomedial telencephalic portion in Betta splendens produced a facilitation of habituation to the context (Marino-Neto & Sabbatini, 1983) and variations in levels of aggression (de Bruin, 1980). Taken as a whole, these data indicate that the Dm telencephalon area shares a great similarity with pallial amygdaloid nuclei and homologous structures in reptiles (Crews et al, 1993;Keating et al, 1970;Krohner & Crews, 1987;Tarr, 1977), birds (Cohen, 1975;Dafter, 1975;Ikebuchi et al, 2009;Martínez-García, et al, 2002;Phillips 1968;Phillips & Youngren, 1968;Vowles & Beasley, 1974;Zeier, 1971), and mammals (Ambrogli et al, 1991;Fonberg, 1973;Grossman et al, 1974;Hanwerker et al, 1974;Horvath, 1963;Killcross et al, 1997;Liang & McGaugh, 1983;McIntery & Stein, 1973;Pellegrino, 1968;Roozendaal et al, 1993;Sanchez-Riolobos, 1986;Takashina et al, 1995;van-der-Zee et al, 1997;Werka et al, 1978;Wiersma et al, 1998). These amygdala lesions affect not only the avoidance conditioning, but also the fear conditioning in mammals and birds (Cohen, 1975;Dafter, 1976).…”

“…These data coupled with the effects of Dm lesions on aggressive behavior, breeding, habituation in situations of aggression in a resident/intruder paradigm (de Bruin, 1980;Marino-Neto & Sabbatini, 1983), as well as data from electrical stimulation of Dm in Carassius that show facilitation and inhibition of aggressive and reproductive patterns or startle response and escape (Savage, 1971), support the homology of the fish telencephalic Dmv with the pallial amygdala of mammals. This idea have been proposed on the basis of neuroanatomical and neurohistochemical evidence of similarities between the two structures developing an evolution-based model of brain organization (Braford, 1995;Echteler & Saidel, 1981;Hornby et al, 1987;Ito et al, 1986;Medina & Reiner, 1995;Murakami et al, 1983;Northcutt, 1995;Piñuela & Nortcutt, 1994;Reiner & Northcutt, 1992;Striedter, 1991;Wulliman & Rink, 2002) and that of reptiles (Crews et al, 1993;Keating et al, 1970;Krohner & Crews, 1987;Tarr, 1977), birds (Cohen, 1975;Dafter, 1975;Ikebuchi et al, 2009;Phillips 1968;Phillips & Youngren, 1968;Vowles & Beasley, 1974;Zeier, 1971), and mammals (Ambrogli et al, 1991;Fonberg, 1973;Grossman et al, 1974;Hanwerker et al, 1974;Horvath, 1963;Killcross et al, 1997;Liang & McGaugh, 1983;McIntery & Stein, 1973;Pellegrino, 1968;Roozendaal et al, 1993;…”

“…In the case of the turtle dove (Streptopelia risoria), it is known that electrical stimulation of archipallium produces emotional responses of fear, offense, and defense (The Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium, 2005;Vowles & Beasley, 1974). In addition, lesions to this structure abolish the conditioned emotional response (as the cardiac acceleration that occurs paired with a shock) in Columba livia (Cohen, 1975, Dafter, 1976.…”