Optogenetic actuators enable highly precise spatiotemporal interrogation of biological
processes at levels ranging from the subcellular to cells, circuits and behaving organisms …

Animals infer when and where a reward is available from experience with informative
sensory stimuli and their own actions. In vertebrates, this is thought to depend upon the …

Spontaneous animal behaviour is built from action modules that are concatenated by the
brain into sequences,. However, the neural mechanisms that guide the composition of …

Wireless battery free and fully implantable tools for the interrogation of the central and
peripheral nervous system have quantitatively expanded the capabilities to study …

It feels rewarding to ace your opponent on match point. Here, we propose common
mechanisms underlie reward and performance learning. First, when a singing bird …

The zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a socially monogamous and colonial opportunistic
breeder with pronounced sexual differences in singing and plumage coloration. Its natural …

Motor learning is a core aspect of human life and appears to be ubiquitous throughout the
animal kingdom. Dopamine, a neuromodulator with a multifaceted role in synaptic plasticity …

Highlights•Genetic identification of brainstem neurons that gate mouse USVs.•Attractor
networks may convert auditory stimuli into vocal action.•The motor cortex plays a role in …

Goal-directed learning is a key contributor to evolutionary fitness in animals. The neural
mechanisms that mediate learning often involve the neuromodulator dopamine. In higher …

Speech is a complex sensorimotor skill, and vocal learning involves both the basal ganglia
and the cerebellum. These subcortical structures interact indirectly through their respective …