Topic: thalamocortical input

Performing learned behaviors requires animals to produce precisely timed motor sequences. Birdsong is an excellent natural example of a complex, learned and precisely timed behavior. In the zebra finch we asked how thalamocortical input contributes to song dynamics. Birdsong is controlled by a brainstem-thalamocortical feedback loop. The premotor cortical region HVC (proper name) contains projection neurons that produce precisely timed, highly reliable and ultra-sparse spike burst sequences that underlie song dynamics. The origin of these bursts is debated. One model posits that bursts are gen