HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Figures All Versions of this Article: 102/3/1748    most recent 00670.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Google Scholar Articles by Gibb, L. Articles by Abarbanel, H. D. I. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gibb, L. Articles by Abarbanel, H. D. I.

Inhibition and Recurrent Excitation in a Computational Model of Sparse Bursting in Song Nucleus HVC

¹Neurosciences Graduate Program, ²Department of Psychology, ³Department of Physics, ⁴Marine Physical Laboratory (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), ⁵Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, and ⁶Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California

Submitted 20 October 2008; accepted in final form 4 June 2009

Abstract

The telencephalic premotor nucleus HVC is situated at a critical point in the pattern-generating premotor circuitry of oscine songbirds. A striking feature of HVC's premotor activity is that its projection neurons burst extremely sparsely. Here we present a computational model of HVC embodying several central hypotheses: 1) sparse bursting is generated in bistable groups of recurrently connected robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA)–projecting (HVC_RA) neurons; 2) inhibitory interneurons terminate bursts in the HVC_RA groups; and 3) sparse sequences of bursts are generated by the propagation of waves of bursting activity along networks of HVC_RA neurons. Our model of sparse bursting places HVC in the context of central pattern generators and cortical networks using inhibition, recurrent excitation, and bistability. Importantly, the unintuitive result that inhibitory interneurons can precisely terminate the bursts of HVC_RA groups while showing relatively sustained activity throughout the song is made possible by a specific constraint on their connectivity. We use the model to make novel predictions that can be tested experimentally.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Gibb, T. Q. Gentner, and H. D. I. Abarbanel Brain Stem Feedback in a Computational Model of Birdsong Sequencing J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2009; 102(3): 1763 - 1778. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]