Amygdala Shapes Social Choices
in Song-Learning Young Birds
Amygdala regulates social motivation for selective vocal imitation in zebra finches
Tomoko G. Fujii, Masashi Tanaka (2025).
The Journal of Neuroscience, 45 (24). 10.1523/jneurosci.2435-24.2025.
We examined the role of the amygdala, a brain region traditionally linked to emotions in mammals in song imitation by zebra finches. Lesions in the amygdala of young zebra finches did not hinder song imitation, but their tutor selection became more unpredictable as birds pursued tutors less discerningly. This study was most-discussed research published in May 2025, and it was chosen as a Featured Research in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Press release：
SfN (EurekAlert!), Waseda University（Japanese）
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Scienmag, Neuroscience News, Earth, 日本経済新聞, Forbes JAPAN, 毎日新聞, 朝日新聞, AFP BBニュース, Andla ...
Vocal Imitation, A Specialized Brain Function That Facilitates Cultural Transmission in Songbirds
Masashi Tanaka (2023).
Acoustic Communication in Animals, Chapter 5. 81-94.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-0831-8_5
I wrote about my thoughts on the concept of “culture” in humans and animals.
Pupil's brain recognizes the perfect teacher
A mesocortical dopamine circuit enables the cultural transmission of vocal behaviour
Masashi Tanaka, Fangmiao Sun, Yulong Li, Richard Mooney (2018).
Nature, 563 (7729), 117-120. 10.1038/s41586-018-0636-7.
By using the zebra finch, which can precisely copy songs from others, we found that dopamine released into a motor cortical area encodes the appropriate tutor to trigger imitative learning.
Press release：
Duke University (EurekAlert!)（英語）, 東北大学（日本語）
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Science Daily, Futurity, Phys,org, Natureジャパン, 日本経済新聞, ライフサイエンス新着レビュー, 国立科学博物館milsil, 大学ジャーナルONLINE, バイオの社, ....
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