Fig. 1. Recording at the interface between sensory and motor cortical circuits in juvenile birds during song learning.
a Schematic showing interactions of the ascending auditory pathway and descending motor pathway in the songbird brain. Like association cortex in mammals, NIf is densely connected with both sensory and motor areas. b Schematic of the songbird brain showing interconnected sensory and motor nuclei. A motorized microdrive was implanted with electrodes in NIf, to enable recordings in freely behaving birds. In addition, a stimulating electrode was implanted in the premotor cortical nucleus HVC to antidromically identify NIfHVC neurons.