The Fee Lab seeks to understand how the brain generates and learns complex sequential behaviors. Using a combination of advanced techniques—behavior, electrophysiology, and optical imaging—our goal is to develop an engineering-level mechanistic description of the neuronal circuits that produce these behaviors.
Publications
An avian cortical circuit for chunking tutor song syllables into simple vocal-motor units
Emily L Mackevicius, Michael T L Happ and Michale S Fee. Nature communications. 2020 Oct 6;11(1):5029.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18732-x. PubMed » Read PDF »
Building a state space for song learning
Mackevicius EL and Fee MS. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2017 Dec 18;49:59-68. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.12.001. PubMed » Read PDF »
Computational training for the next generation of neuroscientists
Goldman MS and Fee MS. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2017 Oct;46:25-30. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.06.007. Epub 2017 Jul 22. PubMed » Read PDF »
Rhythmic syllable-related activity in a songbird motor thalamic nucleus necessary for learned vocalizations
Danish HH, Aronov D and Fee MS. PLoS One. 2017 Jun 15;12(6):e0169568. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169568. eCollection 2017. PubMed » Read PDF »
Rhythmic continuous-time coding in the songbird analog of vocal motor cortex
Lynch GF, Okubo TS, Hanuschkin A, Hahnloser RH and Fee MS. Neuron. 2016 May 18;90(4):877-92. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.04.021. PubMed » Read PDF »
Growth and splitting of neural sequences in songbird vocal development
Okubo TS, Mackevicius EL, Payne HL, Lynch GF and Fee MS. Nature. 2015 Dec 17;528(7582):352-7. doi: 10.1038/nature15741. Epub 2015 Nov 30. PubMed » GitHub » Read PDF »
In vivo recording of single-unit activity during singing in zebra finches
Okubo TS, Mackevicius EL and Fee MS. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. 2014 Oct 23;2014(12):1273-83. doi: 10.1101/pdb.prot084624. PubMed » Read PDF »
A role for descending auditory cortical projections in songbird vocal learning
Mandelblat-Cerf Y, Las L, Denisenko N and Fee MS. Elife. 2014 Jun 16;3. doi: 10.7554/eLife.02152. PubMed » Read PDF »
An automated procedure for evaluating song imitation
Mandelblat-Cerf Y and Fee MS. PLoS One. 2014 May 8;9(5):e96484. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096484. eCollection 2014. Pud Med » Read PDF »
The role of efference copy in striatal learning
Fee MS. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2014 Apr;25:194-200. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.01.012. Epub 2014 Feb 21. PubMed » Read PDF »
Basal ganglia output to the thalamus: still a paradox
Goldberg JH, Farries MA and Fee MS. Trends in Neurosciences. 2013 Dec;36(12):695-705. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2013.09.001. Epub 2013 Nov 2. PubMed » Read PDF »
Natural changes in brain temperature underlie variations in song tempo during a mating behavior
Aronov D and Fee MS. PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e47856. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047856. Epub 2012 Oct 24. PubMed » Read PDF »
Oculomotor learning revisited: a model of reinforcement learning in the basal ganglia incorporating an efference copy of motor actions
Fee MS. Frontiers in Neural Circuits. 2012 Jun 27;6:38. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2012.00038. eCollection 2012. PubMed » Read PDF »
Integration of cortical and pallidal inputs in the basal ganglia recipient thalamus of singing birds
Goldberg JH, Farries MA and Fee MS. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2012 Sep;108(5):1403-29. doi: 10.1152/jn.00056.2012. Epub 2012 Jun 6. PubMed » Read PDF »
Neural mechanisms underlying the generation of birdsong – a modular sequential behavior
M.S. Fee, M.A. Long, in Birdsong, Speech, and Language: Converging Mechanisms, J.J Bolhuis, M. Everaert (Eds.) (2012). Read PDF »
A cortical motor nucleus drives the basal ganglia-recipient thalamus in singing birds
Goldberg JH and Fee MS. Nature Neuroscience. 2012 Feb 12;15(4):620-7. doi: 10.1038/nn.3047. PubMed » Read PDF »
Wandering neuronal migration in the postnatal vertebrate forebrain
Scott BB, Gardner T, Ji N, Fee MS and Lois C. The Journal of neuroscience. 2012 Jan 25;32(4):1436-46. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2145-11.2012. PubMed » Read PDF »
A hypothesis for basal ganglia-dependent reinforcement learning in the songbird
Fee MS1 and Goldberg JH. Neuroscience. 2011 Dec 15;198:152-70. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.09.069. Epub 2011 Oct 13. PubMed » Read PDF »
Two distinct modes of forebrain circuit dynamics underlie temporal patterning in the vocalizations of young songbirds
Aronov D, Veit L, Goldberg JH and Fee MS. The Journal of neuroscience. 2011 Nov 9;31(45):16353-68. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3009-11.2011. PubMed » Read PDF »
Control of vocal and respiratory patterns in birdsong: dissection of forebrain and brainstem mechanisms using temperature
Andalman AS, Foerster JN and Fee MS. PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e25461. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025461. Epub 2011 Sep 28. PubMed » Read PDF »
Learning to breathe and sing: development of respiratory-vocal coordination in young songbirds
Veit L, Aronov D and Fee MS. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2011 Oct;106(4):1747-65. doi: 10.1152/jn.00247.2011. Epub 2011 Jun 22. PubMed » Read PDF »
New methods for localizing and manipulating neuronal dynamics in behaving animals
Fee MS and Long MA. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2011 Oct;21(5):693-700. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.06.010. Epub 2011 Jul 15. PubMed » Read PDF »
Changes in the neural control of a complex motor sequence during learning
lveczky BP, Otchy TM, Goldberg JH, Aronov D and Fee MS. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2011 Jul;106(1):386-97. doi: 10.1152/jn.00018.2011. Epub 2011 May 4. PubMed » Read PDF »
Vocal babbling in songbirds requires the basal ganglia-recipient motor thalamus but not the basal ganglia
Goldberg JH and Fee MS. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2011 Jun;105(6):2729-39. doi: 10.1152/jn.00823.2010. Epub 2011 Mar 23. PubMed » Read PDF »
Analyzing the dynamics of brain circuits with temperature: design and implementation of a miniature thermoelectric device
Aronov D and Fee MS. Journal Neuroscience Methods. 2011 Apr 15; 197(1): 32–47. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2011.01.024. Epub 2011 Feb 1. PubMed » Read PDF »
The songbird as a model for the generation and learning of complex sequential behaviors
Fee MS and Scharff C. ILAR Journal. 2010;51(4):362-77. PubMed » Read PDF »
Support for a synaptic chain model of neuronal sequence generation
Long MA, Jin DZ and Fee MS. Nature. 2010 Nov 18;468(7322):394-9. doi: 10.1038/nature09514. Epub 2010 Oct 24. PubMed » Read PDF »
Singing-related neural activity distinguishes two putative pallidal cell types in the songbird basal ganglia: comparison to the primate internal and external pallidal segments
Goldberg JH, Adler A, Bergman H and Fee MS. The Journal of neuroscience. 2010 May 19;30(20):7088-98. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0168-10.2010. PubMed » Read PDF »
Singing-related neural activity distinguishes four classes of putative striatal neurons in the songbird basal ganglia
Goldberg JH and Fee MS. Journal of neurophysiology. 2010 Apr;103(4):2002-14. doi: 10.1152/jn.01038.2009. Epub 2010 Jan 27. PubMed » Read PDF »