Timescales in songbird auditory processing

Brain estrogens rapidly strengthen auditory encoding and guide song preference in a songbird.

Higher cognitive function depends on accurate detection and processing of subtle features of sensory stimuli. Such precise computations require neural circuits to be modulated over rapid timescales, yet this modulation is poorly understood. Brain-derived steroids (neurosteroids) can act as fast signaling molecules in the vertebrate central nervous system and could therefore modulate sensory pro...

Brain lateralization of auditory processing in a songbird

Toward a neurobiology of auditory object perception: What can we learn from the songbird forebrain?

In the acoustic world, no sounds occur entirely in isolation; they always reach the ears in combination with other sounds. How any given sound is discriminated and perceived as an independent auditory object is a challenging question in neuroscience. Although our knowledge of neural processing in the auditory pathway has expanded over the years, no good theory exists to explain how perception o...

Anatomical and Functional Organization of Inhibitory Circuits in the Songbird Auditory Forebrain.

Recent studies on the anatomical and functional organization of GABAergic networks in central auditory circuits of the zebra finch have highlighted the strong impact of inhibitory mechanisms on both the central encoding and processing of acoustic information in a vocal learning species. Most of this work has focused on the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a forebrain area postulated to be the son...

Anesthesia and brain sensory processing: impact on neuronal responses in a female songbird

Whether anesthesia impacts brain sensory processing is a highly debated and important issue. There is a general agreement that anesthesia tends to diminish neuronal activity, but its potential impact on neuronal "tuning" is still an open question. Here we show, based on electrophysiological recordings in the primary auditory area of a female songbird, that anesthesia induces neuronal responses ...