A model for the song system in Serinus Canaria

RODRIGO G. ALONSO; MARCOS A. TREVISAN; ANA AMADOR; FRANZ GOLLER; GABRIEL B. MINDLIN

Capital Federal

Workshop; La matemática como herramienta para entender la biología/ La Biología como fuente de problemas matemáticos; 2015

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva, a través del Programa RAICES de la Dirección Nacional de Relaciones Internacionales y el Instituto de Cálculo, FCEyN

We built a model whose variables are the average activities of dierent areas of the song system, one of them controlling expiratory activity during song production. We test the hypothesis that it is possible to construct a model in which: 1. The activity of this area ts the observed expiratory patterns used by canaries, and 2. Another of the areas is sparsely active, simultaneously with signicant motor instances of these patterns. We show that in order to achieve these two requirements, the area involved in the control of expiratory pulses needs to receive two inputs: a direct one, and its copy after processing by other areas of the song system. The model makes specic predictions on the timing of HVC activity for dierent classes of pressure patterns.Furthermore, we report experimental results of HVC activity compatible with the model?s predictions.