Partial lesions in the anterior forebrain pathway affect song production in adult Bengalese finches.
The avian song system consists of two main parts: the descending motor pathway and the anterior forebrain (AF) pathway. The former directly controls the motor act of singing, but the role of the AF pathway in real-time song production is not understood; lesioning a nucleus in the AF pathway in adult zebra finches did not cause any notable effects. Here we show that in a related species of songbirds, the Bengalese finch, a partial lesion located in Area X, a nucleus of the avian basal ganglia that is part of the AF pathway, causes a transient but substantial song motor deficit. This is the first demonstration that the AF pathway is involved in real-time song production in adulthood.
Kobayashi
K
K
Faculty of Letters, Chiba University, Japan.
Uno
H
H
Okanoya
K
K
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D003714:Denervation; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D020308:Songbirds; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*