Harvard University -- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology -- Center for Brain Science
The Neurobiology of Vocal Learning
The research in our lab focuses on the principles and mechanisms used by neural circuits to generate complex, learned behaviors. We are using the songbird as a model system, concentrating our efforts on understanding the process of vocal learning. The zebra finch, our species of choice, acquires its song in much the same way that we learn many of our motor skills – by imitating a tutor. It first listens and memorizes the tutor song, then proceeds with trial-and-error vocal experimentation, producing highly variable song. By continuously evaluating its own performance relative to the memorized song template, the songbird slowly converges on a copy of the tutor song. The ultimate goal of our research is to arrive at a mechanistic description of how this learning algorithm is implemented by neurons and their connections. To this end we manipulate, measure from, and model the neural circuits involved in song learning.