人說話和鳥唱歌等復(fù)雜行為要求在多種時間尺度上、在正確的時刻完成一組有序的運(yùn)動,?？刂七@種類型行為的“時鐘”的性質(zhì)仍然不是很清楚。
現(xiàn)在,，一項(xiàng)具有廣泛用途的方法被用來確定決定鳥鳴時程的時鐘回路,。該方法所利用的是腦過程的速度強(qiáng)烈依賴于溫度這樣一個事實(shí)。當(dāng)斑胸草雀運(yùn)動前區(qū)高級發(fā)聲中樞（HVC）的活動因溫度降低而減慢時,，其叫聲的總體速度也降低,，但叫聲內(nèi)的聲學(xué)元素結(jié)構(gòu)保持不變。這說明HVC是腦中控制決定鳥鳴時程的復(fù)雜行為序列的區(qū)域,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature 456, 189-194 (13 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07448
Using temperature to analyse temporal dynamics in the songbird motor pathway
Michael A. Long1 & Michale S. Fee1
1 McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
2 Correspondence to: Michale S. Fee1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.S.F. (Email: [email protected]).
Abstract
Many complex behaviours, like speech or music, have a hierarchical organization with structure on many timescales, but it is not known how the brain controls the timing of behavioural sequences, or whether different circuits control different timescales of the behaviour. Here we address these issues by using temperature to manipulate the biophysical dynamics in different regions of the songbird forebrain involved in song production. We find that cooling the premotor nucleus HVC (formerly known as the high vocal centre) slows song speed across all timescales by up to 45 per cent but only slightly alters the acoustic structure, whereas cooling the downstream motor nucleus RA (robust nucleus of the arcopallium) has no observable effect on song timing. Our observations suggest that dynamics within HVC are involved in the control of song timing, perhaps through a chain-like organization. Local manipulation of brain temperature should be broadly applicable to the identification of neural circuitry that controls the timing of behavioural sequences and, more generally, to the study of the origin and role of oscillatory and other forms of brain dynamics in neural systems.
