Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Thompson, John Arthur
URN	etd-10292008-105524
Title	Neural Dynamics Of Vocal Plasticity
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Psychology, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Frank Johnson Committee Chair Leonard L. LaPointe Committee Member Michael Kaschak Committee Member Michael Meredith Committee Member Richard Bertram Committee Member Richard Hyson Committee Member Wei Wu Outside Committee Member
Keywords	Vocal Variability Basal Ganglia Birdsong Auditory Feedback Zebra Finch Sensory Motor
Date of Defense	2008-10-27
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract In this Dissertation, I detail how two vocal motor pathways (vocal motor pathway and anterior forebrain pathway) contribute to the vocal production in zebra finch adult song. I first describe a model of rapid dissolution and recovery based on partial damage to a primary vocal control region. Second I explore how recovery from destabilization requires auditory feedback and thus reflects a period of vocal plasticity much like vocal development where sensory feedback facilitates a transition from variable to stereotyped motor production. Thirdly, I test two models for the role of the anterior forebrain pathway in recovery from dissolution. I find that the anterior forebrain pathway largely contributes variable patterns of activity during adult vocal production and its ablation facilitates faster recovery. Finally, I explore the nature of the time-variant signal generated by the AFP and show that instead of global modulation across acoustic features, the AFP modulates the variance of specific features of song.
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