Title:
A basal ganglia circuit essential for vocal learning.
Speaker:
David Perkel, University of Washington
Subject:
sensory-motor system
Area:
Medicine
Type of school:
university
School name:
ohio state university
Country:
United States
Course language:
English
Course media:
Video
Course duration:
Contributor:
pbp
Comments:
Author: David Perkel, University of Washington
Title: A basal ganglia circuit essential for vocal learning.
Presentation Materials: PPT
Streaming Video: Real Media
Vocal learning in songbirds provides an excellent model for studying human speech learning and, more generally, sensorimotor learning in vertebrates. A set of discrete, interconnected forebrain nuclei, collectively termed the song system, mediates song learning and production. These nuclei form two major pathways, one essential for song production, the other essential for song learning. We have provided anatomical and electrophysiological evidence that the pathway essential for learning is a basal ganglia circuit with the major cell types and connections of both "direct" and "indirect" mammalian basal ganglia pathways. More recently, we have found a set of dopamine actions on cellular excitability, on synaptic transmission, and on activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, that could play an important role in song learning.
pbp