Meeting Abstract
Vocal learning is a complex trait that is expressed differently across different taxa. While many of the best-studied species are close-ended learners with limited juvenile critical periods for learning, others are open-ended learners with plastic repertoires that can be modified later in life. Budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, are an extreme example of open-ended learners; in this parrot species both sexes have a repertoire of multiple contact call types that continually change throughout adulthood to match the call types of social associates. However, the neural and genetic mechanisms that underlie this persistent plasticity are currently unknown. Here we investigated the activity of FoxP2, a gene associated with vocal learning in both humans and songbirds. We placed budgerigars in a social paradigm in which they were either maintained in stable social groups or moved into groups with novel social associates. We then measured changes in the contact call repertoire and levels of FoxP2 mRNA and protein in the parrot vocal learning center MMSt. Birds in both treatments changed their contact calls over the two days between baseline and post-move recording, but birds that moved into novel groups showed greater vocal plasticity than those that remained in stable groups. FoxP2 levels were downregulated in the MMSt relative to the surrounding striatum in both groups, but there was no difference in the degree of downregulation between the two treatments one day post-move. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the downregulation of FoxP2 in the MMSt permits the persistent vocal plasticity observed in adult budgerigars across a variety of social contexts.
