ArticleNature neuroscience2011
Learning the microstructure of successful behavior.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed.
- Real-Time Segmentation and Classification of Birdsong Syllables for Learning Experiments.eNeuro · 2026Article
- Estimating the motor exploration in reinforcement learning.iScience · 2026Article
- Neural sensitivity to frequency changes in song structure in a high-order auditory area reflects tutor song memory in adult songbirds.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Daily singing of adult songbirds functions to maintain song performance independently of auditory feedback and age.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Generative models of birdsong learning link circadian fluctuations in song variability to changes in performance.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Spontaneous variability predicts compensative motor response in vocal pitch control.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Performance-Dependent Consolidation of Learned Vocal Changes in Adult Songbirds.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022Article
- Intrinsic motivation for singing in songbirds is enhanced by temporary singing suppression and regulated by dopamine.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Variable but not random: temporal pattern coding in a songbird brain area necessary for song modification.Journal of neurophysiology · 2021Article
- Actor-critic reinforcement learning in the songbird.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2020Review
- Sensory substitution reveals a manipulation bias.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Interfacing behavioral and neural circuit models for habit formation.Journal of neuroscience research · 2020Review
- Task-Related Sensorimotor Adjustments Increase the Sensory Range in Electrolocation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020Article
- Article
- The Avian Basal Ganglia Are a Source of Rapid Behavioral Variation That Enables Vocal Motor Exploration.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2018Article
- Thalamostriatal and cerebellothalamic pathways in a songbird, the Bengalese finch.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2018Article
- Place preference and vocal learning rely on distinct reinforcers in songbirds.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Reinforcement signals indicating success or failure are known to alter the probability of selecting between distinct actions. However, successful performance of many motor skills, such as speech articulation, also requires learning behavioral trajectories that vary continuously over time. Here, we investigated how temporally discrete reinforcement signals shape a continuous behavioral trajectory, the fundamental frequency of adult Bengalese finch song. We provided reinforcement contingent on fundamental frequency performance only at one point in the song. Learned changes to fundamental frequency were maximal at this point, but also extended both earlier and later in the fundamental frequency trajectory. A simple principle predicted the detailed structure of learning: birds learned to produce the average of the behavioral trajectories associated with successful outcomes. This learning rule accurately predicted the structure of learning at a millisecond timescale, demonstrating that the nervous system records fine-grained details of successful behavior and uses this information to guide learning.
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Registered trials
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.