International workshop : Physiological mechanisms of song learning and production

Program of the workshop

Poster

Songbirds use learned vocalizations to communicate and display a network of nuclei dedicated to song learning and production. Vocal learning in songbirds as in humans involves three behavioral phases (possibly overlapping) likely reflecting distinct neural processes : (i) sensory learning, during which the young bird memorize the song(s) of one or more adult tutor(s) ; (ii) sensory-motor learning, with the production and slow perfection of an initially unstructured song ; and finally (iii) stereotypic production of the crystallized song after learning is completed. The specific involvement and role of the various brain circuits to the underlying neuronal processes remain only partly understood.

The workshop will present new advances in research areas aiming at uncovering the neural mechanisms involved in vocal learning in songbirds, from cellular physiology and genetics to behavior. It will be divided into three sessions reflecting the three phases of vocal learning : (i) sensory learning : representation and memorization of the song template(s) (ii) motor learning : genes, synapses and neurons involved in the modification of the vocal output (iii) vocal production : complexity of the song control system, from spikes to notes.

Organizer : Arthur Leblois (CNRS and Institute of Neuroscience and Cognition, Université Paris Descartes, Paris)

Sponsor : Agence National de la Recherche (ANR), European Marie Curie program, Paris School of Neuroscience (ENP).

Speakers : J Alliende (Paris), J Bolhuis (Utrecht), C Del Negro (Paris), Coen Elemans (Odense), Manfred Gahr (Seewiesen), I George (Rennes), R Hahnloser (Zurich), A Van der linden (Antwerpen), D Perkel (Seattle), C Scharff (Berlin), M Schmidt (Philadelphia), S Woolley (Montreal)

Talks in the room Avogadro A, main stairs, 2^nd floor, right

Paris Descartes University
45 Rue des Saints Pères
75006 Paris
France

How to get there :

To the University

Inside the building

Program

December 14th :

10:00-10:45 Coffee and welcome address

Session 1, chair : David Perkel

10:45-11:30 Constance Scharff : « Gene function analysis in songbirds »

11:30-12:15 Coen Elemans : « All singing, all dancing : motor control of song production in birds »

12:15-13:00 Jorge Alliende : « Testosterone treated juvenile canaries, air sac pressure and non-linear models »

13:00-14:30 Lunch

Session 2, chair : Catherine Del Negro

14:30-15:15 Sarah Wooley : « Emergence and regulation of context-dependent variability in a songbird basal ganglia nucleus »

15:15-16:00 Arthur Leblois : « Dopamine modulates basal ganglia activity and song variability »

16:00-16:30 Coffee break

Session 3, chair : Richard Hahnloser

16:30-17:45 Manfred Gahr : « Optimized song learning of juvenile zebra finches following BDNF overexpression in HVC »

17:45-18:30 David Perkel : « A candidate synaptic plasticity mechanism for song learning »

December 15th :

9:00-9:30 Coffee

Session 4, chair : Arthur Leblois

9:30-10:15 Johan Bolhius : « Twitter evolution : Brains for birds and brats »

10:15-11:00 Isabelle Georges : To be announced

11:00-11:30 Coffee break

11:30-12:15 Annemie Van Der Linden : « in vivo MRI unravels neuroplasticity and auditory processing of song »

12:15-13:00 Catherine Del Negro : To be announced

13:00-14:30 Lunch

Session 5, chair : Constance Scharff

14:30-15:15 Marc Schmidt : « Norepinephrine, oscillations and sensorimotor integration »

15:15-16:00 Richard Hahnloser : « Neural coding in the auditory forebrain of songbirds »

16:00-17:00 Coffee, wrap-up, and discussion