VOTECOM

Vocal template computations in the songbird brain

Coordinatore	UNIVERSITAET ZUERICH    more Spiacenti, non ci sono informazioni su questo coordinatore. Contattare Fabio per maggiori infomrazioni, grazie.
Nazionalità Coordinatore	Switzerland [CH]
Totale costo	2˙011˙440 €
EC contributo	2˙011˙440 €
Programma	FP7-IDEAS-ERC Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	ERC-2010-AdG_20100317
Funding Scheme	ERC-AG
Anno di inizio	2011
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2011-06-01   -   2016-11-30

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	UNIVERSITAET ZUERICH  Organization address address: Raemistrasse 71 city: ZURICH postcode: 8006 contact info Titolo: Prof. Nome: Richard Hans Robert Cognome: Hahnloser Email: send email Telefono: +41 44 635 30 60	CH (ZURICH)	hostInstitution	2˙011˙440.00

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Song learning in oscine birds shares several characteristics with human language learning: it relies on social interaction, active participation, and error feedback, and must take place within a critical period. Songbirds learn their songs from a tutor: they memorize a template of tutor song and compare their own song to that template until a good match is achieved. The existence of a song template in the songbird brain has been clearly demonstrated in deafening, isolation, and lesion experiments, and therefore the songbird is one of the best animal models for unravelling neural principles of template-based vocal learning.

Currently we know very little about neural mechanisms in the brain that support template-based learning. In songbirds, our knowledge about the template is limited to behavioural aspects that favour or hinder faithful imitation and to evidence about the brain areas in which the template is stored. Elusive about the template remains its neural representation, as well as the manner in which it is used for evaluating the plastic juvenile songs. Here we propose for the first time a set of experiments aimed at identifying neural mechanisms of template computations including template storage, template recall, and template-based evaluation of auditory feedback.

We test the hypothesis that during singing, juvenile birds recall a memory of tutor song and use that memory to analyze and evaluate their own songs. In the zebra finch, our goal is to find a neural correlate of this memory trace in higher auditory association areas. We believe that our studies will provide fundamental insights into how the brain monitors its behavioral output and compares it to some desired output, for which a sensory template has been memorized.'