Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior

Dopamine Neurons Evaluate Natural Fluctuations in Performance Quality

This study shows dopamine neurons in singing birds evaluate natural fluctuations in song performance without external perturbations.

TCF7L2 acts as a molecular switch in midbrain to control mammal vocalization through a transcriptional repression mechanism

This study identifies TCF7L2 as a molecular switch in the midbrain that controls vocalization through transcriptional repression, showing its role in neuronal gene expression and synaptic transmission.

Aerodynamics and motor control of ultrasonic vocalizations for social communication in mice and rats

This study investigates the aerodynamics and neural control of ultrasonic vocalizations in mice and rats, identifying a glottal jet mechanism and developing a motor control model for USV production.

Songbird subthalamic neurons signal song timing and error and project to dopaminergic midbrain

The paper identifies songbird subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons that signal song timing and error, projecting to VTA and connected to brain regions involved in song learning.

Social-vocal brain networks in a non-human primate

The paper identifies a social-vocal brain network in marmoset monkeys that distinguishes social contexts and modulates vocalizations.

Fast and accurate annotation of acoustic signals with deep neural networks

This paper introduces DAS, a deep learning method for annotating acoustic signals across species, demonstrating accuracy, robustness, and speed.

Unravelling the role of thyroid hormones in seasonal neuroplasticity in European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

This study investigates the role of thyroid hormones in seasonal neuroplasticity in European starlings by analyzing gene expression and neurobehavioral effects of hypothyroidism.

Distinct timescales for the neuronal encoding of vocal signals in a high-order auditory area

The paper investigates neuronal encoding of vocal signals in zebra finches, finding distinct timescales for detecting variations and tolerating structural differences in vocal signals.

Expression of oxytocin receptors in the zebra finch brain during vocal development

This study examines oxytocin receptor expression in zebra finch brains during vocal development and finds it persists from post-hatch day 5 to adulthood.

Local Field Potentials in a Pre-motor Region Predict Learned Vocal Sequences

The paper uses local field potentials in zebra finches to decode vocal sequence elements and shows similarities to human motor areas.

A neural hub that coordinates learned and innate courtship behaviors

This paper identifies a midbrain cell group (A11) in zebra finches that coordinates learned songs with innate courtship behaviors through neural connections to HVC and brainstem regions.

Perineuronal nets in HVC and plasticity in male canary song

This study investigates the role of perineuronal nets in HVC in adult male canaries during song modification, finding limited effects on song structure and suggesting potential roles in repertoire stability.

Dopamine in the songbird auditory cortex shapes auditory preference

This study shows that dopamine in the auditory cortex of zebra finches influences song preferences by altering incentive salience.

Spatial and Temporal Organization of Composite Receptive Fields in the Songbird Auditory Forebrain

The paper investigates composite receptive fields in songbird auditory forebrain neurons, finding distributed and redundant representations of vocal signals across small neuron populations.

Loss of cGMP-dependent protein kinase II alters ultrasonic vocalizations in mice, a model for speech impairment in human microdeletion 4q21 syndrome

This study shows that cGKII knockout mice exhibit altered ultrasonic vocalizations and hypothalamic neuron activation, suggesting they model speech impairment in human 4q21 microdeletion syndrome.

One-to-one innervation of vocal muscles allows precise control of birdsong

The paper shows that zebra finches have high motor control resolution in vocal muscles, enabling precise control of birdsong through small motor unit sizes and low muscle stress.

Dopamine D1 receptor activation drives plasticity in the songbird auditory pallium

This study shows that dopamine D1 receptor activation modulates neuroplasticity in the songbird auditory pallium by altering neuronal firing and plasticity gene induction.

Arousal-dependent auditory response in the brain of Bengalese finches as measured by gene expression

This study investigates how arousal affects auditory responses in Bengalese finches using gene expression, finding that low-arousal states show less auditory gating and potential differences from zebra finches.

The gene expression profile of the song control nucleus HVC shows sex specificity, hormone responsiveness, and species specificity among songbirds

The paper examines sex-specific gene expression in the HVC of songbirds, finding that sex and hormone levels significantly influence transcriptomes, with differences observed between natural and testosterone-induced singing.

Songbirds can learn flexible contextual control over syllable sequencing

This study shows that Bengalese finches can learn to modify syllable sequencing based on visual cues, demonstrating a form of contextual control similar to human speech.

Genetically-identified cell types in avian pallium mirror core principles of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in mammalian cortex

The paper identifies two neuronal populations in zebra finch pallium with physiological and computational similarities to mammalian excitatory and inhibitory neurons.

Expression of FoxP2 in the Basal Ganglia Regulates Vocal Motor Sequences in the Adult Songbird

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.

To hum or not to hum: Neural transcriptome signature of courtship vocalization in a teleost fish

The paper identifies gene expression signatures in the brain associated with courtship humming in midshipman fish, highlighting circadian-related genes and other molecular pathways involved in vocal behavior.

Movement signaling in ventral pallidum and dopaminergic midbrain is gated by behavioral state in singing birds

The paper shows that movement-related neuronal activity in the ventral pallidum and dopaminergic midbrain of singing birds is gated by behavioral state, switching from movement-locked to song-syllable-locked during singing.

Rat ultrasonic vocalizations and novelty-induced social and non-social investigation behavior in a seminatural environment

This study investigates whether ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in rats serve an auditory communication purpose by examining their impact on social and non-social behaviors in a novel environment.

Heritable differences in synaptic zinc-transporter levels drive variation in learned birdsong

The paper was withdrawn due to inability to reproduce results regarding zinc and SLC39all's role in song tempo variation.

Syringeal vocal folds do not have a voice in zebra finch vocal development

This study shows that acoustic changes in zebra finch vocal development are due to motor control changes, not syringeal structure maturation.

Addition of new neurons and the emergence of a local neural circuit for precise timing

The paper models how new neurons form a local neural circuit for precise timing in songbird HVC through self-organized recruitment and synaptic plasticity.

Echolocation reverses information flow in a cortical vocalization network

This study shows that echolocation in bats reverses information flow in the fronto-auditory cortical network, with bottom-up transfer during echolocation and top-down during communication.

Autism-linked gene FoxP1 selectively regulates the cultural transmission of learned vocalizations

This study shows that FoxP1 selectively impairs social learning of vocalizations but not imitation in zebra finches, highlighting a specific vulnerability in cultural transmission.