Localized brain activation related to the strength of auditory learning in a parrot.
Parrots and songbirds learn their vocalizations from a conspecific tutor, much like human infants acquire spoken language. Parrots can learn human words and it has been suggested that they can use them to communicate with humans. The caudomedial pallium in the parrot brain is homologous with that of songbirds, and analogous to the human auditory association cortex, involved in speech processing. Here we investigated neuronal activation, measured as expression of the protein product of the immediate early gene ZENK, in relation to auditory learning in the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), a parrot. Budgerigar males successfully learned to discriminate two Japanese words spoken by another male conspecific. Re-exposure to the two discriminanda led to increased neuronal activation in the caudomedial pallium, but not in the hippocampus, compared to untrained birds that were exposed to the same words, or were not exposed to words. Neuronal activation in the caudomedial pallium of the experimental birds was correlated significantly and positively with the percentage of correct responses in the discrimination task. These results suggest that in a parrot, the caudomedial pallium is involved in auditory learning. Thus, in parrots, songbirds and humans, analogous brain regions may contain the neural substrate for auditory learning and memory.
Department of Chemical & Biological Sciences, Japan Women's University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. hirofujiwa@fc.jwu.ac.jp
Hiroko
H
Eda-Fujiwara
Takuya
T
Imagawa
Masanori
M
Matsushita
Yasushi
Y
Matsuda
Hiro-Aki
HA
Takeuchi
Ryohei
R
Satoh
Aiko
A
Watanabe
Matthijs A
MA
Zandbergen
Kazuchika
K
Manabe
Takashi
T
Kawashima
Johan J
JJ
Bolhuis
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D010311:Parrots / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*
D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins