The Zebra Finch,Taeniopygia guttata: An Avian Model for Investigating the Neurobiological Basis of Vocal Learning

Abstract

Songbirds are capable of learning their vocalizations by copying a singing adult. This vocal learning ability requires juveniles to hear and memorize the sound of the adult song, and later to imitate that song through a process involving sensorimotor integration. Vocal learning is a trait that songbirds share with humans, where it forms the basis of spoken language acquisition, with other avian groups (parrots and hummingbirds), and with a few other mammals (cetaceans, bats). It is however absent in traditional model organisms like rodents and non-human primates. Zebra finches, a songbird species from Australia, are popular pets, as they have attractive plumage and social behaviors and are easy to breed. They also sing a relatively simple and stereotyped song that is very amenable to quantitative analysis. Zebra finches have thus emerged as a choice model organism for investigating the neurobiological basis of vocal learning. A number of tools and methodologies have been developed to characterize the bioacoustics properties of their song, analyze the degree of accurate copying during vocal learning, map the brain circuits that control singing and song learning, and investigate the physiology of these circuits. Such studies have led to a large base of knowledge on song production and learning, and their underlying neural substrate. Several molecular resources have recently become available, including brain cDNA/EST databases, microarrays, BAC libraries, a molecular brain atlas, a complete genome assembly, and the ability to perform transgenesis. The recent availability of many other avian genomes provides unique opportunities for comparative analysis in the search of features unique to vocal learning organisms.

Sex differences and rapid estrogen signaling: A look at songbird audition

“…Steroid hormones have been shown to be essential for development and masculinization of the song circuit (Holloway & Clayton, 2001) as well as playing an important neuromodulatory role in auditory perception and discrimination in adults (Maney & Pinaud, 2011, Pawlisch & Remage-Healey, 2015, Pinaud & Tremere, 2012). A unique advantage of the zebra finch model is that it provides a vocal learner that breeds well in lab settings and exhibits pronounced neuronal steroidgenesis, leading to the direct examination of the relationship between neuronal steroids and vocal learning (Mello, 2014). Because the song-circuit has been well studied, the zebra finch is an ideal model for studying the influence of neuronal steroids on sensory and motor aspects of song.…”

Proper Care, Husbandry, and Breeding Guidelines for the Zebra Finch,Taeniopygia guttata

“…1 in The Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia guttata: An Avian Model for Investigating the Neurobiological Basis of Vocal Learning [Mello 2014]).…”

Avian Models for Human Cognitive Neuroscience: A Proposal

“…Although all passerines (songbirds) sing, zebra finches have become the most popular model, and our knowledge of their neuroanatomy and behavior is unsurpassed (Mello, 2014). A second songbird, the black-capped chickadee is a model species for testing ideas concerning the neurobiology of spatial memory and its interaction with hormones, caching behavior, and environmental stress (Pravosudov, 2007).…”