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Neural response to bird’s own song and tutor song in the zebra finch field L and caudal mesopallium

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Abstract

Neurons in the song system nuclei of songbirds exhibit a strong preference for the sound of the bird’s own song relative to that of conspecific songs. This selectivity is observed in the high vocal center and the nucleus interface of the nidopallium, two song nuclei that receive input from the bird’s auditory system. To investigate the role of the auditory system in generating the selective responses observed in the song system, we recorded auditory responses in the zebra finch primary auditory forebrain, field L, and in a secondary auditory area, the caudal mesopallium. Field L and caudal mesopallium project directly or indirectly to the high vocal center and nucleus interface of the nidopallium and are presumed to provide substantial auditory input to the song system. We found that, on average, neurons in field L and caudal mesopallium did not show positive selective responses for the bird’s own song or tutor song relative to conspecific song. Moreover, there were no particular sub-areas in the auditory telencephalon that were relatively more selective than the average. The selectivity for the bird’s own song would therefore be restricted to song nuclei and would arise in one processing step, potentially found at the interface between the auditory and the song systems.

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Abbreviations

BOS:

bird’s own song

CM:

caudal mesopallium (older term: caudal hyperstriatum ventrale or cHV)

Con:

conspecific song

HVC:

high vocal center

LMAN:

lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (older term: lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum)

LPS:

pallial-subpallial lamina (older term: lamina medularis dorsalis or LMD)

NCM:

caudal medial nidopallium (older term: caudo-medial neostriatum)

NIf:

nucleus interface of the nidopallium (older term: nucleus interface of the neostriatum)

RA:

robust nucleus of arcopallium (older term: robust nucleus of the archistriatum)

Rev:

reverse BOS

Revorder:

reverse order of BOS

Uva:

nucleus uvaeformis of the thalamus

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Woolley and T. Fremouw for valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by research grants from the NIMH to FET. All animal procedures were approved by Animal Care and Use Committee at UC Berkeley.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1650, USA

    N. Amin & F. E. Theunissen

  2. Psychology Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1650, USA

    J. A. Grace & F. E. Theunissen

Authors
  1. N. Amin
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  2. J. A. Grace
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  3. F. E. Theunissen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. E. Theunissen.

Additional information

New avian brain terminology has been used in this paper (http://www.avianbrain.org). Older terms are given in parentheses in the list of abbreviations

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Amin, N., Grace, J.A. & Theunissen, F.E. Neural response to bird’s own song and tutor song in the zebra finch field L and caudal mesopallium. J Comp Physiol A 190, 469–489 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0511-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0511-x

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