Dopaminergic system in birdsong learning and maintenance.

Dopamine function in birdsong has been studied extensively in recent years. Several song and auditory nuclei are innervated by midbrain dopaminergic fibers and contain neurons with various dopamine receptors. During sexually motivated singing, activity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area and dopamine release in the striatal Area X, involved in song learning and maintenance, are higher. In this review we provide an overview of the dopaminergic system and neurotransmission in songbirds and the outline of possible involvement of dopamine in control of song learning, production, and maintenance. Based on both behavioral and computational biology data, we describe several models of song learning and the proposed role of dopamine in them. Special attention is given to possible role of dopamine in incentive salience (wanting) and reward prediction error signaling during song learning and maintenance, as well as the role of dopamine-mediated synaptic plasticity in reward processing. Finally, the role of dopamine in determination of personality traits in relation to birdsong is discussed.

近年来，鸟类鸣唱中的多巴胺功能已得到广泛研究。几个鸣唱和听觉核团受中脑多巴胺能纤维的支配，并包含具有各种多巴胺受体的神经元。在性动机驱动的鸣唱过程中，参与鸣唱学习和维持的中脑腹侧被盖区的多巴胺能神经元活动以及纹状体X区的多巴胺释放量更高。在这篇综述中，我们概述了鸣禽的多巴胺能系统和神经传递，以及多巴胺在控制鸣唱学习、产生和维持中可能的参与情况。基于行为学和计算生物学数据，我们描述了几种鸣唱学习模型以及多巴胺在其中所起的作用。我们特别关注多巴胺在鸣唱学习和维持过程中对激励显著性（渴望）和奖励预测误差信号的可能作用，以及多巴胺介导的突触可塑性在奖励处理中的作用。最后，讨论了多巴胺在与鸟类鸣唱相关的个性特征决定中的作用。