Cutting edge Seminar

 

Speaker: Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama （Associate Professor, Neuronal Mechanism for Critical Period Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University）

Title: Social interaction mediates zebra finch vocal learning with attention

 

Date&Time: 6 Nov.  (Wed.) 2019, 12:00- 13:00

Venue: Conference Room(1F), IMEG

 

Abstract:

Juvenile zebra finches learn to sing via vocal communications with their fathers (tutors) during development. Song learning improves more effectively through social interactions with tutors, compared to passive listening to recorded tutor songs. This suggests that high attention level, induced by social interactions with tutors, enhances song learning. Recently we found that tutor song memories appear to be stored in the zebra finch higher auditory cortical area, the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) (Yanagihara & Yazaki-Sugiyama, 2016). We further found that neurons in the attention control brain area, the nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) which were activated by tutor song exposure, project to the NCM. LC neurons showed unbiased auditory responses to various song playbacks during song learning. While, proportions of NCM neurons that responded to more than two types of song playbacks decreased during song learning, whereas the proportions of NCM neurons that showed selective responses to a specific song type increased. Both LC and NCM neurons responded more intensely to live tutor singing than to tutor song playbacks. Optogenetical inactivation of LC neuronal terminal at NCM modulated the auditory response of NCM neurons. Taken together, we suggest that social interactions with tutors modulate neuronal activity of the LC, which affects auditory responses of the NCM, resulting in tutor song memory formation.

 

References

Yazaki-Sugiyama (2019) Neuronal mechanisms regulating the critical period of sensory experience-dependent song learning. Special Issue in Neuroscience Research 140: 53-58. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2018.11.002

Yanagihara S. and *Yazaki-Sugiyama Y. (2018) Social interaction with a tutor modulates responsiveness of specific auditory neurons in juvenile zebra finches. Behav Proc 163: 32-36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2018.04.003

Yanagihara S. and *Yazaki-Sugiyama Y. (2016) Auditory experience dependent cortical circuit shaping for memory formation in bird song learning. Nat. Commun, doi: 10.1038/NCOMMS11946. (featured article)