Vocal Motor Control and Sensorimotor Learning: Behavior, Physiology, and Biomechanics
Abstract
The brain uses sensory feedback to calibrate the performance of complex
behaviors. However, the neural and computational bases of sensorimotor
learning remain mysterious. Our lab uses behavioral, physiological,
biomechanical, and computational techniques to investigate the biological
underpinnings vocal learning in songbirds. My talk will cover three ongoing
lines of investigation into how songbirds correct vocal errors and precisely
coordinate the acoustics of vocal production. First, our behavioral studies
demonstrate that songbirds use vocal variability to constrain the speed and
extent of vocal learning, and that the dynamics of learning across a number
of experimental conditions can be understood as the result of an iterative
process of Bayesian inference. Second, recent neuroanatomical and lesion
studies demonstrate a crucial role for dopaminergic inputs to a basal ganglia
nucleus in mediating vocal reinforcement learning. Third, neurophysiological
recordings and computational analyses suggest that cortical motor neurons
employ a millisecond-resolution spike timing code to regulate vocal behavior.
Recent single-unit recordings from muscle tissue in behaving animals and in
vitro measures of vocal biomechanics further suggest that millisecond-scale
spike timing is an essential component of motor control, suggesting that
reorganization of fine temporal spiking patterns might underlie vocal
plasticity.
Collections
- GT Neuro Seminar Series [102]