Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33024101›Full record

ArticleNature communications2020

An avian cortical circuit for chunking tutor song syllables into simple vocal-motor units.

Emily L Mackevicius, Michael T L Happ, Michale S Fee

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Note similarities affect syntactic stability in zebra finches.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. A feedforward inhibitory premotor circuit for auditory-vocal interactions in zebra finches.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Emily L MackeviciusDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6593-4398
Michael T L HappDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
Michale S FeeDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA. fee@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7539-1745
McGovern Institute for Brain Research · US

Funding

Neuronal Mechanisms of Motor Exploration in the SongbirdR01DC009183 · NIDCD · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI FEE, MICHALE S · 2008 to 2017
$3.1M
NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC009183
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

How are brain circuits constructed to achieve complex goals? The brains of young songbirds develop motor circuits that achieve the goal of imitating a specific tutor song to which they are exposed. Here, we set out to examine how song-generating circuits may be influenced early in song learning by a cortical region (NIf) at the interface between auditory and motor systems. Single-unit recordings reveal that, during juvenile babbling, NIf neurons burst at syllable onsets, with some neurons exhibiting selectivity for particular emerging syllable types. When juvenile birds listen to their tutor, NIf neurons are also activated at tutor syllable onsets, and are often selective for particular syllable types. We examine a simple computational model in which tutor exposure imprints the correct number of syllable patterns as ensembles in an interconnected NIf network. These ensembles are then reactivated during singing to train a set of syllable sequences in the motor network.

Indexed as

Age FactorsAnimalsAuditory PerceptionElectrophysiologyFemaleFinchesLearningMaleModels, BiologicalNeuronsVocalization, Animal

Identifiers

PMID33024101
PMCPMC7538968
OpenAlexW3091858345

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.