BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20251102T174641EST-23093GlUzw@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20251102T224641Z DESCRIPTION:Sarah Woolley\, Ph.D. Dr. Woolley is on faculty in the 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ University Department of Biology.  She is interested in the neural mechani sms underlying the production and perception of social communication behav iors. She studies these in songbird populations using a combination of ele ctrophysiology\, behavioral analysis\, molecular biology and computational methods.  Abstract: Many communicative behaviors\, including human spee ch\, are affected by social cues. In songbirds\, males use song to attract females\, and song performance can differ depending on the audience to wh ich a male sings. For example\, the songs of male zebra finches are more v ariable when males sing non-courtship song in isolation than when they per form courtship song to a female. We are interested in how this social modu lation of song variability is generated as well as whether such changes in vocal variability are perceptible to other birds. In this talk\, I will discuss neurophysiological data indicating how neural variability importan t for the social modulation of vocal variability actively emerges and acqu ires context-sensitivity over the course of a circuit. These data point to the basal ganglia as a key locus in the generation of behavioral variabil ity and its sensitivity to social cues. In addition\, I will discuss how s ocially modulated changes in song are perceived by female birds\, the inte nded audience for such signals. Based on studies using behavioral preferen ce assays and immediate early gene expression it appears that female songb irds are highly sensitive to social modulation of vocal stereotypy. Moreov er\, they appear to be sensitive to precisely the features of song whose s ocial modulation is actively controlled by a cortical-basal ganglia circui t. Ultimately\, by integrating analyses of both the production and percept ion of song\, these data lend insight into the mechanisms and evolutionary importance of motor variability and plasticity. DTSTART:20120927T193000Z DTEND:20120927T203000Z LOCATION:Rabinovitch House\, CA\, QC\, Montreal\, H3G 2A8\, 3640 rue de la Montagne SUMMARY:Production and perception of social communication signals in songbi rds URL:/channels-contribute/channels/event/production-and -perception-social-communication-signals-songbirds-218187 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR