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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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"Vocal Motor Control and Sensorimotor Learning: Behavior, Physiology, and Biomechanics"
Sam Sober, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Emory University
The brain uses sensory feedback to calibrate the performance of complex behaviors. However, the neural and computational bases of sensorimotor learning remain mysterious. Our lab uses behavioral, physiological, biomechanical, and computational techniques to investigate the biological underpinnings vocal learning in songbirds. My talk will cover three ongoing lines of investigation into how songbirds correct vocal errors and precisely coordinate the acoustics of vocal production. First, our behavioral studies demonstrate that songbirds use vocal variability to constrain the speed and extent of vocal learning, and that the dynamics of learning across a number of experimental conditions can be understood as the result of an iterative process of Bayesian inference. Second, recent neuroanatomical and lesion studies demonstrate a crucial role for dopaminergic inputs to a basal ganglia nucleus in mediating vocal reinforcement learning. Third, neurophysiological recordings and computational analyses suggest that cortical motor neurons employ a millisecond-resolution spike timing code to regulate vocal behavior. Recent single-unit recordings from muscle tissue in behaving animals and in vitro measures of vocal biomechanics further suggest that millisecond-scale spike timing is an essential component of motor control, suggesting that reorganization of fine temporal spiking patterns might underlie vocal plasticity.
Biography
Dr. Sober completed his PhD in 2005 at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2010 he joined the Biology faculty at Emory University. Dr. Sober’s research combines advanced experimental and computational techniques to investigate how the brain performs complex tasks and learns from experience.
