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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Song Rhythm Development In Zebra Finches, Julia Hyland Bruno
Song Rhythm Development In Zebra Finches, Julia Hyland Bruno
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation investigates song-rhythm learning in songbirds. Songbirds have been studied extensively in mechanistic investigations into the sensorimotor underpinnings of the cultural transmission of learned vocalizations. While several studies identified forebrain song-system neurons that generate rhythmic song patterns, we know little about how song rhythms are learned. The first part of the dissertation describes methods for detecting and analyzing birdsong rhythm patterns, and demonstrates their utility for identifying the role of song rhythms in social interactions. Results suggest that rhythm plasticity in zebra finch song may provide a potential vehicle for communication. Controlled song-learning experiments further found that developing zebra …
Rules And Mechanisms For Efficient Two-Stage Learning In Neural Circuits, Tiberiu Teşileanu, Bence Ölveczky, Vijay Balasubramanian
Rules And Mechanisms For Efficient Two-Stage Learning In Neural Circuits, Tiberiu Teşileanu, Bence Ölveczky, Vijay Balasubramanian
Publications and Research
Trial-and-error learning requires evaluating variable actions and reinforcing successful variants. In songbirds, vocal exploration is induced by LMAN, the output of a basal ganglia-related circuit that also contributes a corrective bias to the vocal output. This bias is gradually consolidated in RA, a motor cortex analogue downstream of LMAN. We develop a new model of such two-stage learning. Using stochastic gradient descent, we derive how the activity in ‘tutor’ circuits (e.g., LMAN) should match plasticity mechanisms in ‘student’ circuits (e.g., RA) to achieve efficient learning. We further describe a reinforcement learning framework through which the tutor can build its teaching …