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Of mice, birds, and men: the mouse ultrasonic song system has some features similar to humans and song-learning birds.

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Date
2012
Authors
Arriaga, Gustavo
Zhou, Eric P
Jarvis, Erich D
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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 article
Subject
Animals
Birds
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
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9303
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0046610
Publication 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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Scholars@Duke

Jarvis

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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