The singing bird brain: an out-of-body experiment

A central goal in neuroscience is to understand how patterns of neural activity in the brain control behavior. However, the brain does not function in isolation. All animal behaviors result from complex system-wide interactions between the nervous system and its body. Depending on the state of the body, particularly the skeletomuscular system, identical motor commands can result in drastically different motor acts. Consequently, motor control can only be understood by taking neurons, muscles and their environment into account.

I propose a revolutionary isolated preparation that allows full experimental access to higher cortical brain areas and a body capable of producing behavior. To do so I will develop a fully functional ex vivo brain-body preparation of the songbird motor system capable of singing. Because song is a learned, complex fine motor skill driven by the cortex, results can be directly applied and generalized to motor control in higher vertebrates and humans. If successful, this approach will transform our understanding of song and speech control as well as motor control in general.