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- Integrating Genomes, Brain and Behavior in the Study of Songbirds
Current Biology, Volume 19, Issue 18, 29 September 2009, Pages R865-R873
David F. Clayton, Christopher N. Balakrishnan and Sarah E. London
SummarySongbirds share some essential traits but are extraordinarily diverse, allowing comparative analyses aimed at identifying specific genotype–phenotype associations. This diversity encompasses traits like vocal communication and complex social behaviors that are of great interest to humans, but that are not well represented in other accessible research organisms. Many songbirds are readily observable in nature and thus afford unique insight into the links between environment and organism. The distinctive organization of the songbird brain will facilitate analysis of genomic links to brain and behavior. Access to the zebra finch genome sequence will, therefore, prompt new questions and provide the ability to answer those questions.
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- Functional aspects of song learning in songbirds
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 20, Issue 3, 1 March 2005, Pages 143-149
Michael D. Beecher and Eliot A. Brenowitz
AbstractThe oscine passerines, or ‘songbirds’, are one of the few animal taxa in which individuals learn their vocal signals. Recent comparative studies reveal a remarkable diversity of song-learning strategies in the songbirds. Here, we discuss recent studies that shed light on the possible functional basis of different song-learning programs. We argue that further insights into the evolution and ecology of song learning will require that comparative data and functional hypotheses be analyzed in a phylogenetic context, and we review recent studies that we feel might be the first steps in this process.
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- Birdbrains could teach basal ganglia research a new song
Trends in Neurosciences, Volume 28, Issue 7, 1 July 2005, Pages 353-363
Allison J. Doupe, David J. Perkel, Anton Reiner and Edward A. Stern
AbstractRecent advances in anatomical, physiological and histochemical characterization of avian basal ganglia neurons and circuitry have revealed remarkable similarities to mammalian basal ganglia. A modern revision of the avian anatomical nomenclature has now provided a common language for studying the function of the cortical–basal-ganglia–cortical loop, enabling neuroscientists to take advantage of the specialization of basal ganglia areas in various avian species. For instance, songbirds, which learn their vocal motor behavior using sensory feedback, have specialized a portion of their cortical–basal ganglia circuitry for song learning and production. This discrete circuit dedicated to a specific sensorimotor task could be especially tractable for elucidating the interwoven sensory, motor and reward signals carried by basal ganglia, and the function of these signals in task learning and execution.
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Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Volume 5, Issue 10, 426-433, 1 October 2001
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A critique of the neuroecology of learning and memory
a Dept of Behavioural Biology, Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, Leiden University, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
b Dept of Behavioural Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
c Dept of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK YO1 5DD
Recent years have seen the emergence of neuroecology, the study of the neural mechanisms of behaviour guided by functional and evolutionary principles. This research has been of enormous value for our understanding of the evolution of brain- and species-specific behaviour. However, we question the validity of the neuroecological approach when applied to the analysis of learning and memory, given its arbitrary assumption that different ‘problems’ engage different memory mechanisms. Differences in memory-based performance in ‘natural’ tasks do not prove differences in memory capacity; similarly, differences in the use of memory in the natural environment do not provide a sound basis for expecting differences in anatomical structures that subserve learning and memory. This critique is illustrated with examples taken from the study of the neurobiology of food storing and song learning in birds.