Bird songs provide insight into how developing brain forms memories

UChicago News

Researchers at the University of Chicago have demonstrated, for the first time, that a key protein complex in the brain is linked to the ability of young animals to learn behavioral patterns from adults.The findings, published July 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that a specific neural signal—the mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) cascade—regulates the ability of juvenile zebra finches to form accurate memories of songs taught to them by adult birds. The research suggests mTOR’s function in regulating protein synthesis may be involved, since protein synthesis is known to be a key feature of long-term memory formation.

The results have implications for efforts to understand how early-life experiences affect brain function and behavior, including potentially providing new insight into children affected by neurodevelopmental disorders. Disruptions related to mTOR have been associated with autism spectrum disorders in humans.













“In the last five to 10 years, there seems to be a convergence on the mTOR cascade as a common disrupted process in autism spectrum disorders. We are not investigating autism per se, but what got our attention was that the zebra finches model a similar kind of situation, where there’s a developmental event that requires social interactions, and a communication behavior that is hard to study in rodents who don’t typically learn vocalizations,” said Sarah London, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology.

London, whose lab emphasizes research on zebra finch neural development and learning behaviors, co-authored the study with Somayeh Ahmadiantehrani, a postdoctoral fellow at UChicago.

Some unusual features of zebra finches are particularly helpful in linking developmental traits with learning ability. Only the male birds can learn to sing, and juvenile zebra finches learn one song from an adult during a specific period of their development. They then use the memory of that song to guide production of the unique ...

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