ArticleNature2008
Using temperature to analyse temporal dynamics in the songbird motor pathway.
Article in Nature, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 266 papers.
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Who cites it
266 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Miniaturized Bidirectional Thermal Stimulation System Integrated With an Electrode Array for Recording Neural Activities.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Mild Focal Cooling Decouples Dendrites to Reconfigure Cortical Output.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Neural temporal scaling accounts for robust hunting behavior across temperatures.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- High-throughput assessment of vocal modulation following chemogenetic inhibition in songbirds.iScience · 2026Article
- Temperature robustness of the timing network within songbird premotor nucleus HVC.Journal of computational neuroscience · 2026Article
- Article
- Neck muscle twitch properties are associated with constraint on drum speed in woodpeckers, but not drum length.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Comparative approaches to the neurobiology of avian vocal learning.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2025Review
- From silence to song: Testosterone triggers extensive transcriptional changes in the female canary HVC.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Introductory notes before zebra finch song have unique timing properties while sharing acoustic properties with song.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- The Temporal Organization of Learned Vocal Behavior Is Predicted by Species Rather Than Experience.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Song-like activation of syringeal and respiratory muscles during sleep in canaries.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2025Article
- Respiratory contributions to birdsong-evolutionary considerations and open questions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Differential behavioral engagement of inhibitory interneuron subtypes in the zebra finch brain.Neuron · 2025Article
- Integrative neural mechanisms for social communication of learned vocal behavior.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2025Review
- Variable and slow-paced neural dynamics in HVC underlie plastic song production in juvenile zebra finches.BMC neuroscience · 2024Article
- Millisecond-scale motor coding precedes sensorimotor learning in songbirds.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
206 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
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.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.