Basal ganglia function, stuttering, sequencing, and repair in adult songbirds.
Abstract
A pallial-basal-ganglia-thalamic-pallial loop in songbirds is involved in vocal motor
learning. Damage to its basal ganglia part, Area X, in adult zebra finches has been
noted to have no strong effects on song and its function is unclear. Here we report
that neurotoxic damage to adult Area X induced changes in singing tempo and global
syllable sequencing in all animals, and considerably increased syllable repetition
in birds whose song motifs ended with minor repetitions before lesioning. This stuttering-like
behavior started at one month, and improved over six months. Unexpectedly, the lesioned
region showed considerable recovery, including immigration of newly generated or repaired
neurons that became active during singing. The timing of the recovery and stuttering
suggest that immature recovering activity of the circuit might be associated with
stuttering. These findings indicate that even after juvenile learning is complete,
the adult striatum plays a role in higher level organization of learned vocalizations.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11142Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1038/srep06590Publication Info
Kubikova, Lubica; Bosikova, Eva; Cvikova, Martina; Lukacova, Kristina; Scharff, Constance;
& Jarvis, Erich D (2014). Basal ganglia function, stuttering, sequencing, and repair in adult songbirds. Sci Rep, 4. pp. 6590. 10.1038/srep06590. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11142.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Erich David Jarvis
Adjunct Professor in the Deptartment of Neurobiology
Dr. Jarvis' laboratory studies the neurobiology of vocal communication. Emphasis is
placed on the molecular pathways involved in the perception and production of learned
vocalizations. They use an integrative approach that combines behavioral, anatomical,
electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques. The main animal model used
is songbirds, one of the few vertebrate groups that evolved the ability to learn vocalizations.
The generality of the discoveries is tested in other vocal lear

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info