Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The ability to acquire and adjust a sensorimotor skill relies on coordinated activity within a cortico–basal ganglia–thalamo–cortical loop, yet the underlying inter-areal dynamics remain unclear. The zebra finch ( Taeniopygia castanotis ) is well suited for studying these mechanisms, as male song depends on this circuit to bias downstream motor activity and adjust vocal output to social context. Using a custom-made reusable and torque-adjustable Neuropixels implant, we simultaneously recorded neural activity in the premotor region LMAN and in the basal ganglia–like striatal region Area X during rest, solo song, and female-directed song. Pairwise cross-covariance analyses among LMAN units and established striatal and pallidal neuron types revealed heterogeneous interactions during song that vanished on a population level whereas strong co-activation emerged for non-singing epochs. These results suggest that cortico–basal ganglia interactions are dynamically regulated across behavioral states—strong during spontaneous activity yet decorrelated during song—without specialization by Area X neuron type.
Source: Scientific Reports
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Zurich, Université Paris-Saclay, ETH Zurich, Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, University of California San Diego, Instituto de Física La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
Awards: Sleep basal ganglia-cortical dynamics during sensorimotor learning, The roles of vocal communication in pair formation and cultural learning in songbirds, Neural sequences for planning and production of learned vocalizations, G7325387531, Vocal tuning and sequencing in songbirds and in humans
OpenAlex ID: W7171356884
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