A collaborative research group led by Assistant Professor Masashi Tanaka of Tohoku University discovered a neural circuit necessary for imitating a song inside the brain of a zebra finch, which is a kind of bird that sings songs.This achievement is a collaborative research between Professor Richard Mooney of Duke University in the United States and Professor Lee Bao-Lu of Peking University in China.
The zebra finch (a songbird native to Australia) has the ability to pass down songs as a cross-generational culture by accurately imitating the songs sung by parents and passing them on to their descendants.However, if all the sounds of the outside world are imitated, a stable song cannot be handed down.Therefore, the research group investigated the brain mechanism that can pass down songs.
As a result, only when sung directly from an adult bird suitable for mimicry, nerve cells in the midbrain's "periaqueductal gray (PAG)" in the deep brain of a young kinkacho become strongly active and sing. It was found that dopamine is released into the "sensory motor area (HVC)" that controls the behavior of the patient.Blocking dopamine signaling in the brain of a young zebra finch no longer mimics the song you hear, and conversely, releasing dopamine mimics a song played from a speaker that you wouldn't normally imitate.Recording the activity of the sensorimotor cortex after the release of dopamine reveals a response to the song that was playing during the release of dopamine. Conceivable.
The results of this research are the first to clarify the neural circuit that triggers imitation learning, and the high imitation behavior of human beings, which plays an important role not only in the transmission of technology and culture but also in social communication such as language. It can be useful information for understanding the origin.
Paper information:[Nature] A mesocortical dopamine circuit enables the cultural transmission of vocal behavior
