Interaction between auditory and motor activities in an avian song control nucleus.

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Abstract
Discrete telencephalic nuclei HVc (hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudale) and RA (nucleus robustus archistriatalis) are implicated in the control of vocalization in songbirds [Serinus canarius, Zonotricha leucophrys, Poephila guttata]. The role of HVc in vocalization was demonstrated by presenting neuronal recordings taken from HVc of singing birds. Extracellular recordings from awake-behaving birds show that many neurons in HVc respond to auditory stimuli and demonstrate responses of HVc neurons to playback of the bird''s own song. The functional significance of these responses is not yet clear, but behavioral studies show that auditory feedback plays a crucial role in the development of normal song. The song-correlated temporal pattern of neural activity persists even in the deaf bird. In the normal bird, the activity pattern correlated with production of certain song elements can be clearly distinguished from the pattern of auditory responses to the same song elements. An interaction apparently occurs in HVc of the singing bird between motor and auditory activity. Experiments involving playback of sound while the bird is singing show that the interaction consists of motor inhibition of auditory activity in HVc and that this inhibition decays slowly over a period of seconds after the song terminates.