Increasing stereotypy in adult zebra finch song correlates with a declining rate of adult neurogenesis.

Full Abstract

Adult neurogenesis is often correlated with learning new tasks, suggesting that a function of incorporating new neurons is to permit new memory formation. However, in the zebra finch, neurons are added to the song motor pathway throughout life, long after the initial song motor pattern is acquired by about 3 months of age. To explore this paradox, we examined the relationship between adult song structure and neuron addition using sensitive measures of song acoustic structure. We report that between 4 and 15 months of age there was an increase in the stereotypy of fine-grained spectral and temporal features of syllable acoustic structure. These results indicate that the zebra finch continues to refine motor output, perhaps by practice, over a protracted period beyond the time when song is first learned. Over the same age range, there was a decrease in the addition of new neurons to HVC, a region necessary for song production, but not to Area X or the hippocampus, regions not essential for singing. We propose that age-related changes in the stereotypy of syllable acoustic structure and HVC neuron addition are functionally related. 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Author information

Author/s: Pytte, Carolyn L (CL); Gerson, Miles (M); Miller, Janet (J); Kirn, John R (JR);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Queens College, Flushing, New York 11367, USA. carolyn.pytte(-atsign-)qc.cuny.edu

Grants: DC004724 (Agency:NIDCD NIH HHS) ; NS29843 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Developmental neurobiology (Dev Neurobiol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Nov; vol 67 (issue 13) : pp 1699-720

Dates: Created 2007/10/17; Completed 2007/12/28;

PMID: 17595004, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.