Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, USA.
Commun Biol. 2022 Jun 10;5(1):573. doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-03533-3.
The evolution and development of complex, learned motor skills are thought to be closely associated with other locomotor movement and cognitive functions. However, it remains largely unknown how different neuromuscular programs may interconnect during the protracted developmental process. Here we use a songbird to examine the behavioral and neural substrates between the development of locomotor movement and vocal-motor learning. Juvenile songbirds escalate their locomotor activity during the sensitive period for vocal learning, followed by a surge of vocal practice. Individual variability of locomotor production is positively correlated with precision of tutor imitation and duration of multi-syllable sequences. Manipulation of juvenile locomotion significantly impacts the precision of vocal imitation and neural plasticity. The locomotor program developed during the sensitive period of vocal learning may enrich the neural substrates that promote the subsequent development of vocal learning.
复杂的习得性运动技能的进化和发展被认为与其他运动和认知功能密切相关。然而，在长期的发育过程中，不同的神经肌肉程序如何相互连接，在很大程度上仍然未知。在这里，我们使用鸣禽来研究运动和发声运动学习之间的行为和神经基础。幼年鸣禽在发声学习的敏感期增加其运动活动，随后是大量的发声练习。运动产生的个体可变性与导师模仿的精确性和多音节序列的持续时间呈正相关。对幼鸟运动的操纵显著影响发声模仿的精确性和神经可塑性。在发声学习敏感期发展起来的运动程序可能会丰富促进后续发声学习发展的神经基质。
