生物谷报道：灵长目的“镜像”神经元令某一个体能模仿另一个体的行为，因为当某一个体执行或观察某一特定动作（如一个手势）时，这些神经元就会发射信号。一个很好的例子是声音学习，如人类语言学习和鸟类鸣叫的习得。这也许是“镜像”神经元的一种显而易见的工作，但此前一直没有关于听觉—声音“镜像”神经元的报道。现在，对沼泽带鹀（一种像人类一样依靠听觉体验来学习声音的鸟）所作的一项研究中，一组专门进行听觉—声音监测的前脑神经元被识别了出来。这些神经元对于一个给定的音符序列几乎有同样的反应，而不管该音符序列是作为其歌曲的一部分“唱”出来的，还是听另一只鸟“唱”出来的。
英文原文：
Nature 451, 305-310 (17 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature06492; Received 10 October 2007; Accepted 19 November 2007
Precise auditory–vocal mirroring in neurons for learned vocal communication
J. F. Prather1, S. Peters2, S. Nowicki1,2 & R. Mooney1
Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center,
Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
Correspondence to: R. Mooney1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.M. (Email: mooney@neuro.duke.edu).
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Abstract
Brain mechanisms for communication must establish a correspondence between sensory and motor codes used to represent the signal. One idea is that this correspondence is established at the level of single neurons that are active when the individual performs a particular gesture or observes a similar gesture performed by another individual. Although neurons that display a precise auditory–vocal correspondence could facilitate vocal communication, they have yet to be identified. Here we report that a certain class of neurons in the swamp sparrow forebrain displays a precise auditory–vocal correspondence. We show that these neurons respond in a temporally precise fashion to auditory presentation of certain note sequences in this songbird's repertoire and to similar note sequences in other birds' songs. These neurons display nearly identical patterns of activity when the bird sings the same sequence, and disrupting auditory feedback does not alter this singing-related activity, indicating it is motor in nature. Furthermore, these neurons innervate striatal structures important for song learning, raising the possibility that singing-related activity in these cells is compared to auditory feedback to guide vocal learning.
