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... mammals [11]. Lesions of the AFP in juvenile zebra finches have devastating effects on song development, whereas the same manipulations in adults have few short-term consequences for song production =-=[12,13]-=-. While the critical importance of the AFP for song learning has been established, its specific role remains unknown [14]. It has been proposed that the AFP may be involved in comparing the auditory f...

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...n area X and LMAN during the motor learning phase result in contrasting deficits. The songs of LMAN-lesioned birds crystallize prematurely, whereas the songs of area X-lesioned birds remain variable (=-=Scharff and Nottebohm, 1991-=-). It has been suggested that this pathway is responsible for the storage of song templates (Doupe and Konishi, 1991) or guidance of the synaptic connection from HVc to RA (Mooney, 1992). 3 FUNCTIONAL...

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...e, supported by early lesion studies demonstrating that while the AFP is required for song learning, it is not required for singing in birds that have already learned their song (Bottjer et al. 1984; =-=Scharff and Nottebohm 1991-=-; Sohrabji et al. 1990). However, this view has been challenged recently by two observations. First, the AFP does in fact influence behavior; specifically, activity in LMAN (the output station of the ...

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...er et al., 1989). In zebra finches, LMAN lesions made at the height of sensorimotor learning produce a sudden and premature acoustical stereotypy that resembles crystallization (Bottjer et al., 1984; =-=Scharff and Nottebohm, 1991-=-), although similar lesions made in the adult zebra finch do not affect song production. One hypothesis explaining the age-dependent effects of LMAN lesions is that LMAN neurons change physiologically...

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...5, 1997; Bottjer and Johnson, 1997; Durand et al., 1997; Medina et al., 1997; Jarvis et al., 1998; Marin et al., 1998). This pathway in songbirds is involved in vocal learning (Sohrabji et al., 1990; =-=Scharff and Nottebohm, 1991-=-), possibly in song maintenance (Benton et al., 1998), and in the social context of singing (Jarvis et al., 1998; Hessler and Doupe, 1999). Until recently, HVo had been found only in budgerigars (Stri...

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...iable vocal output. Role of the AFP: instructive, motor, or both? Lesion studies in juveniles and adults demonstrate that vocal plasticity does not occur in the absence of LMAN (Bottjer et al., 1984; =-=Scharff and Nottebohm, 1991-=-; Morrison and Nottebohm, 1993; Williams and Mehta, 1999; Brainard and Doupe, 2000; Kao et al., 2005). Three models explain AFP function in vocal plasticity: an instructive model where auditory feedba...

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... and relatively large nidopallial volumes are significantly correlated with tool use [Lefebvre et al., 2002]. The mesopallium is also involved in a variety of ‘cognitive’ behaviors, such as innovative feeding behaviors [Timmermans et al., 2000], social behavior [Ball and Balthazart, 2001], vocal perception/production [e.g., Gentner et al., 2000; Plummer and Striedter, 2002], and learning [Horn, 1998; Barber et al., 1999]. Lastly, the striatopallidal complex does not appear to be directly involved in the execution of cognitively complex behaviors, but areas within it are essential to learning [Scharff and Nottebohm, 1991; Csillag, 1999; Watanabe, 2001]. Thus, an expansion of all three regions would likely result in the increase in learning ability and cognitive capacity of both parrots and passerines. In contrast to locomotor or prey capture specializations then, parrots and passerines could be considered to possess a ‘cognitive’ cerebrotype. That is, the specialization of this cerebrotype is complex cognitive functions, such as problem solving, tool use and social behavior, rather than an ecological specialization per se. In this regard, parrots and passerines are similar to primates because all three taxa s...