The Adjustment of Anterior Forebrain Pathway (AFP) to Birdsong Is Phased during Song Learning and Maintenance

<div>Neural structure of the song premotor pathway. HVC contains several types of neurons, including projection neurons (HVC<sub>X</sub> and HVC<sub>RA</sub>) that project to RA and area X and interneurons HVC<sub>I</sub> that project locally within the HVC. HVC<sub>X</sub> and HVC<sub>RA</sub> act in the form of a feed-forward model to fire sparsely. Besides, RA has two types of neurons: inhibitory neurons and projection neurons. Inhibitory neurons are used to simulate the local inhibition phenomenon in RA, while projection neurons are stimulated by HVC and LMAN and divided into two categories. One part controls the muscle of syrinx through “spring constant” <span class="nowrap"><svg height="11.5564pt" id="M77" style="vertical-align:-2.26807pt" version="1.1" viewbox="-0.0498162 -9.28833 21.891 11.5564" width="21.891pt" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,0,0)"><path d="M620 675H597C578 656 570 650 541 650H144C112 650 104 653 94 675H72C59 618 42 552 23 493L53 491C71 534 88 564 105 585C124 608 144 615 238 615H290L197 121C182 40 174 34 88 28L82 0H361L367 28C275 34 266 38 281 121L374 615H441C522 615 543 608 553 583C562 560 566 531 565 493L597 494C603 551 612 629 620 675Z"></path></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,8.285,0)"><path d="M300 -147C201 -63 143 98 143 270S200 602 300 686L282 710C136 610 70 450 70 271V270C70 89 136 -72 282 -170L300 -147Z"></path></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,12.783,0)"><path d="M324 430H196L233 583L223 592L145 529L120 430H54L29 396L31 388H111L56 126C33 15 54 -12 77 -12C137 -12 214 57 250 95L233 119C208 92 155 59 138 59C126 59 120 70 131 125L186 390L298 394L324 430Z"></path></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,17.216,0)"><path d="M275 270C275 450 212 609 64 710L45 686C145 604 203 442 203 270S147 -63 45 -147L64 -170C213 -68 275 89 275 270Z"></path></g></svg>,</span> and the other part controls the respiratory system through driving pressure <span class="nowrap"><svg height="11.5564pt" id="M78" style="vertical-align:-2.26807pt" version="1.1" viewbox="-0.0498162 -9.28833 21.6301 11.5564" width="21.6301pt" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,0,0)"><path d="M600 480C600 590 528 650 384 650H143L137 622C222 614 225 607 210 531L130 127C113 41 106 36 23 28L17 0H294L300 28C204 36 195 42 212 127L243 284L314 263C327 263 339 263 352 264C465 271 600 337 600 480ZM508 481C508 351 402 304 329 304C289 304 265 311 250 317L295 559C302 594 310 606 323 611C335 616 350 619 367 619C455 619 508 573 508 481Z"></path></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,8.026,0)"><path d="M300 -147C201 -63 143 98 143 270S200 602 300 686L282 710C136 610 70 450 70 271V270C70 89 136 -72 282 -170L300 -147Z"></path></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,12.524,0)"><path d="M324 430H196L233 583L223 592L145 529L120 430H54L29 396L31 388H111L56 126C33 15 54 -12 77 -12C137 -12 214 57 250 95L233 119C208 92 155 59 138 59C126 59 120 70 131 125L186 390L298 394L324 430Z"></path></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,16.957,0)"><path d="M275 270C275 450 212 609 64 710L45 686C145 604 203 442 203 270S147 -63 45 -147L64 -170C213 -68 275 89 275 270Z"></path></g></svg>.</span> Arrow lines represent excitatory projections, while circle-headed lines represent inhibitory projections.</div>

Neural Plasticity

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Figure 2

Figure 2: The Adjustment of Anterior Forebrain Pathway (AFP) to Birdsong Is Phased during Song Learning and Maintenance 