title: A Distributed Recurrent Network Contributes to Temporally Precise Vocalizations.
abstract: How do forebrain and brainstem circuits interact to produce temporally precise and reproducible behaviors? Birdsong is an elaborate, temporally precise, and stereotyped vocal behavior controlled by a network of forebrain and brainstem nuclei. An influential idea is that song premotor neurons in a forebrain nucleus (HVC) form a synaptic chain that dictates song timing in a top-down manner. Here we combine physiological, dynamical, and computational methods to show that song timing is not generated solely by a mechanism localized to HVC but instead is the product of a distributed and recurrent synaptic network spanning the forebrain and brainstem, of which HVC is a component.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Electronic address: mooney@neuro.duke.edu.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mooney
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D046369:Finches / Q000502:physiology*; D053400:High Vocal Center / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*