NSF Award
0112258
A central issue in brain function is how patterns of sequential neural activity are created to produce sophisticated motor patterns in activities such as communication behavior, ranging from mating calls to language. In well-studied songbirds, singing-related activity occurs in a region known as RA (robust nucleus of the archistriatum), where individual neurons generate highly reproducible patterns of high-frequency bursts. Onsets and endings of these bursts show temporal correlations across large populations of neurons in this region, suggesting that RA undergoes synchronized transitions from one state of active neurons to another. The goal of this project is to develop models of how such sequence generation can occur, and test these models experimentally. A unique approach is used with a novel technology for stable cellular recordings from a sleeping bird, in which such structured bursts occur with patterns apparently 'replaying' the patterns produced during actual singing.<br/> Results will be important for understanding mechanisms of sequence generation and of motor learning in the vertebrate brain, and could have an impact extending to mechanisms of human speech production. This combined computational and experimental work also provides a young PI with a cross-disciplinary experience that includes university-industry collaboration.
