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Motor circuits are required to encode a sensory model for imitative learning.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Roberts, TF; Gobes, SMH; Murugan, M; Ölveczky, BP; Mooney, R
Published in: Nat Neurosci
October 2012

Premotor circuits help generate imitative behaviors and can be activated during observation of another animal's behavior, leading to speculation that these circuits participate in sensory learning that is important to imitation. Here we tested this idea by focally manipulating the brain activity of juvenile zebra finches, which learn to sing by memorizing and vocally copying the song of an adult tutor. Tutor song-contingent optogenetic or electrical disruption of neural activity in the pupil's song premotor nucleus HVC prevented song copying, indicating that a premotor structure important to the temporal control of birdsong also helps encode the tutor song. In vivo multiphoton imaging and neural manipulations delineated a pathway and a candidate synaptic mechanism through which tutor song information is encoded by premotor circuits. These findings provide evidence that premotor circuits help encode sensory information about the behavioral model before shaping and executing imitative behaviors.

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Published In

Nat Neurosci

DOI

EISSN

1546-1726

Publication Date

October 2012

Volume

15

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1454 / 1459

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Singing
  • Optogenetics
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Neural Pathways
  • Models, Neurological
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton
  • Learning
  • Imitative Behavior
  • Finches
  • Brain
 

Citation

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Roberts, T. F., Gobes, S. M. H., Murugan, M., Ölveczky, B. P., & Mooney, R. (2012). Motor circuits are required to encode a sensory model for imitative learning. Nat Neurosci, 15(10), 1454–1459. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3206
Roberts, Todd F., Sharon M. H. Gobes, Malavika Murugan, Bence P. Ölveczky, and Richard Mooney. “Motor circuits are required to encode a sensory model for imitative learning.Nat Neurosci 15, no. 10 (October 2012): 1454–59. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3206.
Roberts TF, Gobes SMH, Murugan M, Ölveczky BP, Mooney R. Motor circuits are required to encode a sensory model for imitative learning. Nat Neurosci. 2012 Oct;15(10):1454–9.
Roberts, Todd F., et al. “Motor circuits are required to encode a sensory model for imitative learning.Nat Neurosci, vol. 15, no. 10, Oct. 2012, pp. 1454–59. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/nn.3206.
Roberts TF, Gobes SMH, Murugan M, Ölveczky BP, Mooney R. Motor circuits are required to encode a sensory model for imitative learning. Nat Neurosci. 2012 Oct;15(10):1454–1459.

Published In

Nat Neurosci

DOI

EISSN

1546-1726

Publication Date

October 2012

Volume

15

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1454 / 1459

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Singing
  • Optogenetics
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Neural Pathways
  • Models, Neurological
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton
  • Learning
  • Imitative Behavior
  • Finches
  • Brain