Research

Most of the behaviors that we humans tend to think are uniquely human—speech, language, music, athletic performance—are all examples of learned sequential behaviors. These are behaviors that require the brain to generate a precise sequence of motor gestures, with exact timing and correct ordering, for those behaviors to be successful. Also, none of these behaviors is innate. They are all learned in part by imitation—by watching other people—and they also require thousands of hours of practice to perfect.

So how do brain circuits generate precise sequences of motor outputs? How do brains learn which muscles to activate in which order in order to generate a complex behavior? Our lab seeks to answer these questions.

We address these questions largely using the songbird as a model system. Vocal learning in songbirds shares behavioral, circuit-level, and genetic mechanisms with human speech, and has provided a rich model system for understanding how complex learned behaviors are produced by the brain. All songbirds, including the widely studied zebra finch, learn to imitate the song of a conspecific tutor, typically the father. Juvenile zebra finches start off babbling ‘subsong’, then introduce a stereotyped ‘protosyllable’ of ~100ms duration.  New syllables emerge through the differentiation of this protosyllable into multiple syllable types, until the song crystallizes into an adult song composed of 3-7 distinct syllables.  After several weeks of practice, zebra finches can produce a precise moment-to-moment imitation of their tutor’s song.

We use a wide range of approaches and technologies to study brain circuits—from electrophysiology, optical imaging, and connectomics, to sophisticated analyses of behavioral and neuronal data, to novel methods for manipulating neuronal circuits. We have invented a number of advanced technologies in the lab, including: