Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • About BCS
    • Mission
    • History
    • Building 46
      • Building 46 Room Reservations
    • Leadership
    • Employment
    • Contact
      • BCS Spot Awards
      • Building 46 Email and Slack
    • Directory
  • Faculty + Research
    • Faculty
    • Areas of Research
    • Postdoctoral Research
      • Postdoctoral Association and Committees
    • Core Facilities
    • InBrain
      • InBRAIN Collaboration Data Sharing Policy
  • Academics
    • Course 9: Brain and Cognitive Sciences
    • Course 6-9: Computation and Cognition
      • Course 6-9 MEng
    • Brain and Cognitive Sciences PhD
      • How to Apply
      • Program Details
      • Classes
      • Research
      • Student Life
      • For Current Students
    • Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Program
      • How to Apply to MCN
      • MCN Faculty and Research Areas
      • MCN Curriculum
      • Model Systems
      • MCN Events
      • MCN FAQ
      • MCN Contacts
    • Computationally-Enabled Integrative Neuroscience Program
    • Research Scholars Program
    • Course Offerings
  • News + Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Recordings
    • Newsletter
  • Community + Culture
    • Community + Culture
    • Community Stories
    • Outreach
      • MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP)
      • Post-Baccalaureate Research Scholars
      • Conferences, Outreach and Networking Opportunities
    • Get Involved (MIT login required)
    • Resources (MIT login Required)
  • Give to BCS
    • Join the Champions of the Brain Fellows Society
    • Meet Our Donors

Utility Menu

  • Directory
  • Apply to BCS
  • Contact Us

Footer

  • Contact Us
  • Employment
  • Be a Test Subject
  • Login

Footer 2

  • McGovern
  • Picower

Utility Menu

  • Directory
  • Apply to BCS
  • Contact Us
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Menu
MIT

Main navigation

  • About BCS
    • Mission
    • History
    • Building 46
    • Leadership
    • Employment
    • Contact
    • Directory
  • Faculty + Research
    • Faculty
    • Areas of Research
    • Postdoctoral Research
    • Core Facilities
    • InBrain
  • Academics
    • Course 9: Brain and Cognitive Sciences
    • Course 6-9: Computation and Cognition
    • Brain and Cognitive Sciences PhD
    • Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Program
    • Computationally-Enabled Integrative Neuroscience Program
    • Research Scholars Program
    • Course Offerings
  • News + Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Recordings
    • Newsletter
  • Community + Culture
    • Community + Culture
    • Community Stories
    • Outreach
    • Get Involved (MIT login required)
    • Resources (MIT login Required)
  • Give to BCS
    • Join the Champions of the Brain Fellows Society
    • Meet Our Donors

Events

News Menu

  • News
  • Events
  • Newsletters

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Events
  3. Thesis Defense: Tatsuo Okubo, Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Emergence of Rhythmic and Stereotyped Vocalizations in Juvenile Songbirds
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
Thesis Defense

Thesis Defense: Tatsuo Okubo, Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Emergence of Rhythmic and Stereotyped Vocalizations in Juvenile Songbirds

Speaker(s)
Tatsuo Okubo
Add to CalendarAmerica/New_YorkThesis Defense: Tatsuo Okubo, Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Emergence of Rhythmic and Stereotyped Vocalizations in Juvenile Songbirds09/21/2015 6:30 pm09/21/2015 9:00 pm46-3189
September 21, 2015
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
46-3189
Contact
Julianne Gale
    Description

    ORAL DEFENSE OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Tatsuo Okubo B.S., University of Tokyo, 2006 M.S., University of Tokyo, 2008 Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Emergence of Rhythmic and Stereotyped Vocalizations in Juvenile Songbirds Monday, September 21, 2015 2:30 PM 46-3189 Thesis Supervisor Michale Fee https://stellar.mit.edu/S/project/graduatethesis/courseMaterial/topics/topic10/readings/Okubo_thesis/Okubo_thesis.pdf Abstract: Complex motor behaviors in humans, such as speech and athletic performances, are not innate, but instead learned through a trial-and-error process. What is the neural mechanism that allows the brain to learn such behaviors? Here, I use songbird as a model to understand the neural mechanisms underlying vocal learning, an example of a learned complex motor behavior. Previous studies have shown that a premotor area HVC (a proper name) generate sequences of bursts responsible for the stereotyped adult song. However, the activity of HVC neurons during juvenile vocalizations remains unknown. This thesis provides a comprehensive characterization of HVC activity during the entire song learning process. HVC activity exhibited dramatic change in activity during the emergence of the first stereotyped component in the juvenile song. During subsong, the earliest vocalization of juvenile birds, roughly half of HVC neurons exhibited syllable-locked activity. Over several days, more neurons started exhibiting rhythmic bursts at 5-10 Hz that were locked to syllables. As a population, different neurons were active at different latencies thus forming a rhythmic neural sequence, which was often associated with prototype syllables (‘protosyllables’). Thus, growth of a rhythmic neural sequence in HVC underlies the transition from highly variable subsong to the emergence of protosyllables. This rhythmic neural sequence was then split to give rise to multiple distinct sequences corresponding to multiple distinct syllable types. During the emergence of two syllable types from a protosyllable, there were neurons that were active during both of these emerging syllable types (‘shared neurons’). Over development, the fraction of shared neurons decreased suggesting that splitting of a neural sequence in HVC underlies the emergence of a new syllable type. Moreover, this sequence splitting was used in different song learning strategies, indicating this is a fundamental neural mechanism for song learning. In summary, this work demonstrates how a growth of a rhythmic neural sequence and its subsequence splitting can give rise to the emergence of complex stereotyped vocalizations in songbirds. Given the ubiquity of neural sequence in various brain areas of different animals, it is possible that this mechanism applies to learning of complex motor behaviors in general.

    Upcoming Events

    Jul
    Fri
    11
    Simons Center for the Social Brain

    Special Seminar with Dr. Balázs Rózsa: Real-Time 3D Imaging and Photostimulation in Freely Moving Animals: A Novel Approach Using Robotic Acousto-Optical Microscopy

    3:00pm to 4:00pm
    Add to CalendarAmerica/New_YorkSpecial Seminar with Dr. Balázs Rózsa: Real-Time 3D Imaging and Photostimulation in Freely Moving Animals: A Novel Approach Using Robotic Acousto-Optical Microscopy07/11/2025 3:00 pm07/11/2025 4:00 pmBuilding 46,46-3310
    Jul
    Tue
    15
    McGovern Institute for Brain Research

    Special Seminar with Liset M. de la Prida

    10:00am to 11:00am
    Add to CalendarAmerica/New_YorkSpecial Seminar with Liset M. de la Prida07/15/2025 10:00 am07/15/2025 11:00 amBuilding 46,3310
    Sep
    Fri
    5
    Simons Center for the Social Brain

    SCSB Lunch Series: Dr. Gwangsu Kim

    12:00pm to 1:00pm
    Add to CalendarAmerica/New_YorkSCSB Lunch Series: Dr. Gwangsu Kim09/05/2025 12:00 pm09/05/2025 1:00 pmSimons Center Conference room, 46-6011,46-6011
    See All Events
    Don't miss our next newsletter!
    Sign Up

    Footer menu

    • Contact Us
    • Employment
    • Be a Test Subject
    • Login

    Footer 2

    • McGovern
    • Picower
    Brain and Cognitive Sciences

    MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 46-2005

    Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 | (617) 253-5748

    For Emergencies | Accessibility

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology