Pattern of Interhemispheric Synchronization in HVc During Singing Correlates With Key Transitions in the Song Pattern
- 1 December 2003
- journal article
- Published by American Physiological Society in Journal of Neurophysiology
- Vol. 90 (6), 3931-3949
- https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00003.2003
Abstract
Many complex voluntary behaviors require that motor commands be tightly coordinated between cerebral hemispheres. The neural mechanisms underlying such coordination, however, remain poorly understood. Song production in birds is a highly stereotyped learned motor behavior that requires finely tuned coordination between hemispheres. In the present study, neural activity was recorded simultaneously from the song control nucleus HVc in each hemisphere of singing adult male zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata). In all cases, the pattern of recorded multiunit activity in each hemisphere was highly correlated during short segments of the song motor pattern. These correlated segments often consisted of multiple short bursts of activity. Because of the absence of interhemispheric connections between song control nuclei, these observations suggest that HVc activity is “synchronized” by common inputs to both hemispheres. Using sliding-window cross-covariance analyses, periods of high interhemispheric synchronization were found to be time-locked to the acoustic onset of syllables and notes. In some cases, precisely synchronized bursts in both hemispheres were also observed during periods associated with the intersyllable silent interval. In all cases, activity was correlated between hemispheres independently of the recording site, suggesting that all regions of HVc may be globally synchronized during these short segments of the song. Given the anatomical organization of the song system, inputs originating from either thalamus or midbrain are proposed to act as timing signals that initiate and synchronize intrinsic motor networks within each HVc thus allowing for the precise coordination of motor commands across hemispheres.Keywords
This publication has 48 references indexed in Scilit:
- Neural pathways for bilateral vocal control in songbirdsJournal of Comparative Neurology, 2000
- Identification and connections of inspiratory premotor neurons in songbirds and budgerigarJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1998
- Bilateral feedback projections to the forebrain in the premotor network for singing in zebra finchesJournal of Neurobiology, 1998
- Parallel pathways and convergence onto HVc and adjacent neostriatum of adult zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1995
- Distributed Representation in the Song System of Oscines: Evolutionary Implications and Functional Consequences (Part 1 of 2)Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 1994
- Temporal patterning of song production: Participation of nucleus uvaeformis of the thalamusJournal of Neurobiology, 1993
- Organization of the zebra finch song control system: Functional organization of outputs from nucleus robustus archistriatalisJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1991
- On the coordination of two-handed movements.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1979
- CEREBRAL CONTROL OF CONTRALATERAL AND IPSILATERAL ARM, HAND AND FINGER MOVEMENTS IN THE SPLIT-BRAIN RHESUS MONKEYBrain, 1973
- The Organization of Language and the BrainScience, 1970