INNATE PROPERTIES OF SENSORY NEURONS AND EFFECTS OF EXPERIENCE

感觉神经元的固有特性和经验的影响

• 批准号: 6112587
• 负责人: ALISON DOUPE
• 金额: $ 14.32万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-05-01 至 2000-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6112587
• 关键词: Aves; animal communication behavior; auditory deprivation; auditory discrimination; auditory pathways; auditory stimulus; behavioral /social science research tag; cerebral cortex; computer data analysis; early experience; electrophysiology; ethology; experimental brain lesion; juvenile animal; learning; neural information processing; neural plasticity; neuroanatomy; prosencephalon; sensorimotor system; species difference; vocalization

The long term goal of our laboratory is to understand how the brain changes with sensory learning, and what factors constrain learning-dependent changes. Vocal learning in birds provides a useful model to address these questions, because it is clear that songbirds must hear and memorize song early in life in order to sing normally as adults. Furthermore, birds have specialized brain structures devoted to song learning, in which many of the important neural changes are likely to occur. Young birds, like humans, show behavioral evidence of innate responsiveness to their own species' vocalizations. They must subsequently be exposed to adult song within a critical period if they are to memorize this song correctly. The general goal of the experiments proposed here is therefore 1) to investigate patterns of neural activity in the song system of birds prior to learning, to look for neural mechanisms which might mediate the innate behavioral responses to song, and then 2) to assess how this initial state of the nervous system is affected by subsequent sensory exposure or the lack thereof. We hypothesize that the innate capacity of songbirds to recognize songs of their own species (conspecific song) is encoded by auditory neural circuitry in and afferent to the song system. We propose to examine these areas systematically in juvenile birds, prior to song exposure, for the presence of neurons or ensembles of neurons that respond to stimuli known to elicit selective responses in behavioral studies. Such neurons might represent the innate template thought to underly conspecific song recognition. We will then examine the same areas after birds have had a period of sensory experience of song or of song deprivation. These experiments will provide insight into the effects of exposure to complex acoustic stimuli and how these stimuli might be represented in the spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity. We will compare our results in detail with our Program Project colleagues, especially Schreiner, who is analyzing mammalian auditory cortex before and after learning of complex sounds. Common principles underlying the effects of sensory experience may emerge from such thematically related studies of different systems. Because the innate responsiveness of songbirds is reminiscent of the innate human responsiveness to phonemes, which narrows with exposure to a specific language, these studies should also shed light on general mechanisms of vocal learning, the neural basis of constraints on vocal learning, and mechanisms of critical period closure.

我们实验室的长期目标是了解如何 大脑随着感觉学习的变化而变化，以及哪些因素限制了 依赖于学习的变化。 鸟类的声音学习提供了 解决这些问题的有用模型，因为很明显 鸣禽必须在生命早期就听到并记住歌曲，以便 像成年人一样正常唱歌。 此外，鸟类有专门的大脑 致力于歌曲学习的结构，其中许多 可能会发生重要的神经变化。 幼鸟，如 人类表现出对他们的先天反应的行为证据 自己物种的发声。 他们随后必须暴露于 成人歌曲在关键时期如果他们要记住这首歌 正确。 这里提出的实验的总体目标是 因此 1）研究歌曲中的神经活动模式 鸟类在学习之前的系统，寻找神经机制 这可能会调节对歌曲的固有行为反应，并且 然后 2）评估神经系统的初始状态如何 受到随后的感官暴露或缺乏感官暴露的影响。 我们 假设鸣禽与生俱来的识别能力 他们自己物种的歌曲（同种歌曲）是由 歌曲系统中的听觉神经回路和传入的听觉神经回路。 我们 建议系统地检查幼鸟的这些区域， 在歌曲曝光之前，检查神经元或整体的存在 对已知刺激做出反应的神经元会引起选择性 行为研究中的反应。 这些神经元可能代表 固有模板被认为是同种歌曲识别的基础。 然后，我们将在鸟类来月经后检查相同的区域 歌曲的感官体验或歌曲剥夺。 这些 实验将深入了解接触的影响 复杂的声音刺激以及这些刺激可能是怎样的 表现为神经活动的时空模式。 我们 将我们的结果与我们的计划项目进行详细比较 同事们，尤其是施赖纳，他正在分析哺乳动物 听觉皮层学习复杂声音之前和之后。 感官体验影响的共同原则 可能会从不同主题的相关研究中出现 系统。 因为鸣禽天生的反应能力是 让人想起人类与生俱来的对音素的反应， 随着接触特定语言而缩小，这些研究 还应该阐明声乐学习的一般机制， 声乐学习限制的神经基础及其机制 关键时期关闭。