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Representation of environmental shape in the hippocampus of domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). Brain Struct Funct 2017; 223:941-953. [DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1537-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 10/05/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Di Giorgio E, Loveland JL, Mayer U, Rosa-Salva O, Versace E, Vallortigara G. Filial responses as predisposed and learned preferences: Early attachment in chicks and babies. Behav Brain Res 2017; 325:90-104. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.09.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2016] [Revised: 09/06/2016] [Accepted: 09/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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Mayer U, Rosa-Salva O, Lorenzi E, Vallortigara G. Social predisposition dependent neuronal activity in the intermediate medial mesopallium of domestic chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus). Behav Brain Res 2016; 310:93-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.05.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2016] [Revised: 05/02/2016] [Accepted: 05/06/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Stacho M, Ströckens F, Xiao Q, Güntürkün O. Functional organization of telencephalic visual association fields in pigeons. Behav Brain Res 2016; 303:93-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.01.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2015] [Revised: 01/15/2016] [Accepted: 01/17/2016] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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Mayer U, Pecchia T, Bingman VP, Flore M, Vallortigara G. Hippocampus and medial striatum dissociation during goal navigation by geometry or features in the domestic chick: An immediate early gene study. Hippocampus 2015; 26:27-40. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/24/2015] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
| | - Tommaso Pecchia
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
| | - Verner Peter Bingman
- Department of Psychology and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience; Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University; Bowling Green Ohio
| | - Michele Flore
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
| | - Giorgio Vallortigara
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
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Avey MT, Bloomfield LL, Elie JE, Freeberg TM, Guillette LM, Hoeschele M, Lee H, Moscicki MK, Owens JL, Sturdy CB. ZENK activation in the nidopallium of black-capped chickadees in response to both conspecific and heterospecific calls. PLoS One 2014; 9:e100927. [PMID: 24963707 PMCID: PMC4071011 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2014] [Accepted: 05/31/2014] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal populations in the songbird nidopallium increase in activity the most to conspecific vocalizations relative to heterospecific songbird vocalizations or artificial stimuli such as tones. Here, we tested whether the difference in neural activity between conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations is due to acoustic differences or to the degree of phylogenetic relatedness of the species producing the vocalizations. To compare differences in neural responses of black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus, to playback conditions we used a known marker for neural activity, ZENK, in the caudal medial nidopallium and caudomedial mesopallium. We used the acoustically complex 'dee' notes from chick-a-dee calls, and vocalizations from other heterospecific species similar in duration and spectral features. We tested the vocalizations from three heterospecific species (chestnut-backed chickadees, tufted titmice, and zebra finches), the vocalizations from conspecific individuals (black-capped chickadees), and reversed versions of the latter. There were no significant differences in the amount of expression between any of the groups except in the control condition, which resulted in significantly less neuronal activation. Our results suggest that, in certain cases, neuronal activity is not higher in response to conspecific than in response to heterospecific vocalizations for songbirds, but rather is sensitive to the acoustic features of the signal. Both acoustic features of the calls and the phylogenetic relationship between of the signaler and the receiver interact in the response of the nidopallium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc T. Avey
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - Julie E. Elie
- Department of Psychology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Todd M. Freeberg
- Departments of Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | | | - Marisa Hoeschele
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Homan Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - Jessica L. Owens
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
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Tomaszycki ML, Dzubur E. 17β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type IV, a Z-linked gene, is higher in females than in males in visual and auditory regions of developing zebra finches. Brain Res 2013; 1520:95-106. [PMID: 23692956 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2012] [Revised: 05/08/2013] [Accepted: 05/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
One of the most important decisions in a monogamous animal's life is the choice of a partner (partner preference), but the process by which this occurs remains poorly understood. The present study tests the hypothesis that hormones and genes play a role in sexual differentiation of partner preferences, as in the song system. We focused on a Z-linked gene, 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type IV (HSD17B4), coding for a steroidogenic enzyme that converts estradiol (E2) into an inactive metabolite. HSD17B4 mRNA is expressed more in the song regions of males compared to females throughout development, suggesting that regulation of E2 is important for male-typical song development. Here, we focused on four regions associated with sexual partner preferences. Females had significantly higher levels of HSD17B4 mRNA in auditory (caudomedial nidopallium) and visual (hyperpallium apicale) regions than did males at day 25. HSD17B4 was expressed in the hippocampus and caudolateral nidopallium, but there were no sex differences. In a second experiment, animals of both sexes were treated with E2 and HSD17B4 and androgen receptor (AR) mRNA were measured, since masculinization of the song system is, in part, accomplished by AR. AR was low across the four regions and was not sexually differentiated. E2 treatments increased HSD17B4 mRNA in the auditory region of males, which is contrary to findings in the song system. Our research suggests that different behaviors may be guided by the same genes and hormones, but that the exact nature of the gene-hormone relationships may differ according to brain region and behavior.
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Mayer U, Watanabe S, Bischof HJ. Spatial memory and the avian hippocampus: Research in zebra finches. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 107:2-12. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2012.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2012] [Revised: 05/08/2012] [Accepted: 05/10/2012] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
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Mayer U, Bischof HJ. Brain activation pattern depends on the strategy chosen by zebra finches to solve an orientation task. J Exp Biol 2012; 215:426-34. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.063941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARY
Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) were trained to find food in one of four feeders on the floor of an aviary. This feeder was always in the same place during training and was additionally marked by a distinct pattern. In the test trial the distinctly patterned feeder was interchanged with one of the other feeders, so that the birds had to decide to use either the pattern or the original location for finding food. Half of the birds used one strategy and half used the other. According to the strategy applied, different brain areas were activated, as demonstrated by c-Fos immunohistochemistry. The hippocampus was activated when spatial cues were used, while in birds orienting using the pattern of the feeder, part of the collothalamic (tectofugal) visual system showed stronger activation. The visual wulst of the lemnothalamic (thalamofugal) visual system was activated with both strategies, indicating an involvement in both spatial and pattern-directed orientation. Because the experimental situation was the same for all zebra finches, the activation pattern was only dependent on the strategy that was voluntarily chosen by each of the birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uwe Mayer
- Neuroethology, Bielefeld University, Postfach 100131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
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Nishizawa K, Izawa EI, Watanabe S. Neural-activity mapping of memory-based dominance in the crow: neural networks integrating individual discrimination and social behaviour control. Neuroscience 2011; 197:307-19. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2011] [Revised: 08/28/2011] [Accepted: 09/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Shimizu T, Patton TB, Husband SA. Avian visual behavior and the organization of the telencephalon. BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2010; 75:204-17. [PMID: 20733296 PMCID: PMC2977968 DOI: 10.1159/000314283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Birds have excellent visual abilities that are comparable or superior to those of primates, but how the bird brain solves complex visual problems is poorly understood. More specifically, we lack knowledge about how such superb abilities are used in nature and how the brain, especially the telencephalon, is organized to process visual information. Here we review the results of several studies that examine the organization of the avian telencephalon and the relevance of visual abilities to avian social and reproductive behavior. Video playback and photographic stimuli show that birds can detect and evaluate subtle differences in local facial features of potential mates in a fashion similar to that of primates. These techniques have also revealed that birds do not attend well to global configural changes in the face, suggesting a fundamental difference between birds and primates in face perception. The telencephalon plays a major role in the visual and visuo-cognitive abilities of birds and primates, and anatomical data suggest that these animals may share similar organizational characteristics in the visual telencephalon. As is true in the primate cerebral cortex, different visual features are processed separately in the avian telencephalon where separate channels are organized in the anterior-posterior axis roughly parallel to the major laminae. Furthermore, the efferent projections from the primary visual telencephalon form an extensive column-like continuum involving the dorsolateral pallium and the lateral basal ganglia. Such a column-like organization may exist not only for vision, but for other sensory modalities and even for a continuum that links sensory and limbic areas of the avian brain. Behavioral and neural studies must be integrated in order to understand how birds have developed their amazing visual systems through 150 million years of evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toru Shimizu
- Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-7200, USA.
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Abstract
Neural and behavioral development is characterized by two features. First, brain and behavior are organized by an interplay of genetic instruction and information from the environment. Second, the acquisition of external information is, in many cases, not a steady process. Instead, information is often acquired only for a limited time span, the sensitive period. During development, an animal may experience many of these sensitive periods, all of them needed for a distinct purpose. The basic features of such sensitive periods are described, and the neurophysiological basis of the neuronal rewiring that underlies the acquisition of early learning is discussed. An example is presented which may serve as a general scenario for early learning in sensitive periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans-Joachim Bischof
- University of Bielefeld, Department of Behavioural Biology, POB 100131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany.
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