Inception of memories that guide vocal learning in the songbird
An imitation circuit
Animals, including humans, rely heavily on imitation and social learning, yet we know little about how this process operates in the brain. Zhao et al. used optogenetic manipulation of a synaptic pathway connecting auditory and vocal motor circuits to implant song memories sufficient to guide song learning into young zebra finches (see the Perspective by Clayton). Activation of this circuit overrode learning from live tutors. These experiments define circuits essential for social learning of songs from tutors and show that such memories can be localized.
Abstract
Animals learn many complex behaviors by emulating the behavior of more experienced individuals. This essential, yet still poorly understood, form of learning relies on the ability to encode lasting memories of observed behaviors. We identified a vocal-motor pathway in the zebra finch where memories that guide learning of song-element durations can be implanted. Activation of synapses in this pathway seeds memories that guide learning of song-element duration and can override learning from social interactions with other individuals. Genetic lesions of this circuit after memory formation, however, do not disrupt subsequent song imitation, which suggests that these memories are stored at downstream synapses. Thus, activity at these sensorimotor synapses can bypass learning from auditory and social experience and embed memories that guide learning of song timing.
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Supplementary Material
Summary
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1 to S8
Table S1
Movies S1 and S2
Audio files S1 and S2
Resources
References and Notes
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Volume 366 | Issue 6461
4 October 2019
4 October 2019
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Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
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Submission history
Received: 18 December 2018
Accepted: 14 August 2019
Published in print: 4 October 2019
Acknowledgments
We thank members of the Roberts laboratory for discussion and comments on the manuscript, and J. Holdway and A. Guerrero for laboratory support and animal husbandry. Funding: Supported by NIH grant R01DC014364 and NSF grant IOS-1457206 (T.F.R.). Author contributions: W.Z. and T.F.R. designed the experiments; W.Z., F.G.-O., and D.D. performed the experiments; all authors contributed to data analysis; and W.Z. and T.F.R. wrote the manuscript. Competing interests: Authors declare no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data are available in the main text or the supplementary materials.
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National Science Foundation: IOS-1457206
National Institutes of Health: R01DC014364
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