Event
BISI-BEES Neuroscience Seminar: Brain circuits that control vocalization
Monday, September 26, 2022
12:00 p.m.
Online presentation
Scott Juntti
sjuntti@umd.edu
https://umd.zoom.us/j/93252976511?pwd=YVFJTGFWL1UvcTkrcGNVV3BtSzY4dz09
Neuroscience seminar
Saying the Right thing at the Right Time – Lessons from “Singing“ Fish
Andy Bass
Cornell University
Bass will be presenting his work on circuits that control vocalization. This will be a virtual seminar as a part of the BISI-BEES seminar series.
All classes of motor actions depend on the brain for selecting and sequencing behavior-specific muscle activity patterns. How do brain regions that control behaviors select between available patterns, e.g., running versus walking or alarm versus courtship calling? How are these patterns then sequenced into actions appropriate for a given social context? Vocal behaviors are excellent models for answering these questions - they are often highly stereotyped, differ in a finite set of easily quantified parameters, and require precise execution to ensure survival and reproduction. Our new studies indicate that fish and mammals, lineages separated by hundreds-of-millions of years of evolution, share multiple features of a midbrain circuit motif that both initiates and selects vocal behaviors appropriate to social contexts.