Of mice, birds, and men: the mouse ultrasonic song system has some features similar to humans and song-learning birds.
Abstract
Humans and song-learning birds communicate acoustically using learned vocalizations.
The characteristic features of this social communication behavior include vocal control
by forebrain motor areas, a direct cortical projection to brainstem vocal motor neurons,
and dependence on auditory feedback to develop and maintain learned vocalizations.
These features have so far not been found in closely related primate and avian species
that do not learn vocalizations. Male mice produce courtship ultrasonic vocalizations
with acoustic features similar to songs of song-learning birds. However, it is assumed
that mice lack a forebrain system for vocal modification and that their ultrasonic
vocalizations are innate. Here we investigated the mouse song system and discovered
that it includes a motor cortex region active during singing, that projects directly
to brainstem vocal motor neurons and is necessary for keeping song more stereotyped
and on pitch. We also discovered that male mice depend on auditory feedback to maintain
some ultrasonic song features, and that sub-strains with differences in their songs
can match each other's pitch when cross-housed under competitive social conditions.
We conclude that male mice have some limited vocal modification abilities with at
least some neuroanatomical features thought to be unique to humans and song-learning
birds. To explain our findings, we propose a continuum hypothesis of vocal learning.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AnimalsBirds
Brain Mapping
Corpus Striatum
Deafness
Early Growth Response Protein 1
Feedback, Sensory
Female
Humans
Laryngeal Nerves
Larynx
Learning
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Knockout
Motor Cortex
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Vocalization, Animal
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9303Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0046610Publication Info
Arriaga, Gustavo; Zhou, Eric P; & Jarvis, Erich D (2012). Of mice, birds, and men: the mouse ultrasonic song system has some features similar
to humans and song-learning birds. PLoS One, 7(10). pp. e46610. 10.1371/journal.pone.0046610. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9303.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.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Erich David Jarvis
Adjunct Professor in the Dept. 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

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