Sensory processing of song has been studied by electrophysiological recordings and molecular immediate early gene (IEG) product expression methods.
Our experiments tested whether changes in sensory processing of song might be associated with the changes in motor output observed in zebra finches producing variant song syntax containing variable repetitions of song syllables.
Here we apply massively parallel Illumina sequencing to probe the involvement of miRNAs in the processing of song experience in the zebra finch auditory forebrain.
In the last decade, our understanding of the central processing of song production has advanced significantly [ 8, 9, 50] in the dominant avian model species for vocal production learning, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata (Vieillot, 1817), Passeriformes: Estrildidae).
As illustrated in Fig. 2, the functional images were acquired on a tilted coronal slice that was chosen to intersect all critical auditory forebrain areas: the primary auditory region field L, as well as secondary auditory areas caudal medial nidopallium (NCM) and caudal mesopallium (CM), both of which have been implicated in the processing of familiar songs (reviewed in Bolhuis & Gahr, 2006).
It is divided into twenty ways of processing a song, many of which — "loudness" and "density," for instance — are open and fairly intuitive.
Each emulates the vocal processing of a well-known pop song.
We used blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) to re-examine the hierarchical processing of BOS and conspecific song in the primary auditory pallium of the zebra finch brain.
The present study was designed to determine whether words and melodies in song are processed interactively or independently, and to examine the influence of attention on the processing of words and melodies in song.
This complicated behavior depends on the integrated action of neural systems for auditory perception, song learning, song production and processing of social information [ 8, 9, 11, 12].
