The advent of powerful perturbation tools, such as optogenetics, has created new frontiers
for probing causal dependencies in neural and behavioral states. These approaches have …

Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are often used as behavioral readouts of internal
states, to measure effects of social and pharmacological manipulations, and for behavioral …

The basal ganglia are known to influence action selection and modulation of movement
vigor, but whether and how they contribute to specifying the kinematics of learned motor …

INTRODUCTION The mammalian neocortex, with its distinctive six-layered structure, is
thought to enable advanced cognitive functions not seen in other animals. Yet birds, which …

Populations of neurons display an extraordinary diversity in the behaviors they affect and
display. Machine learning techniques have recently emerged that allow us to create …

In songbirds, the remarkable temporal precision of song is generated by a sparse sequence
of bursts in the premotor nucleus HVC. To distinguish between two possible classes of …

Many complex behaviours, like speech or music, have a hierarchical organization with
structure on many timescales, but it is not known how the brain controls the timing of …

Songbirds learn their songs by trial-and-error experimentation, producing highly variable
vocal output as juveniles. By comparing their own sounds to the song of a tutor, young …

Objective. Chronic neural recording in behaving animals is an essential method for studies
of neural circuit function. However, stable recordings from small, densely packed neurons …

Young animals engage in variable exploratory behaviors essential for the development of
neural circuitry and adult motor control, yet the neural basis of these behaviors is largely …