Lei Xiao

The paper shows that dopamine transients at song motif onset are needed to maintain accurate adult zebra finch song, a naturally learned skilled behavior.

This study shows FoxP2 in the basal ganglia is essential for fluent birdsong initiation, termination, and syllable sequencing, with disruptions affecting dopamine receptor balance and vocal-motor sequencing.

This study shows that VTA projections to the basal ganglia are sufficient to guide vocal learning in zebra finches through optogenetic manipulation.