Birds and mammals share a common brain circuit for learning
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 22:31
in Biology & Nature
Bird song learning is a model system for studying the general principles of learning, but attempts to draw parallels between learning in birds and mammals have been difficult because of anatomical brain differences between the two species. A new study helps solve this problem, by identifying specific classes of neurons within the brains of songbirds and matching them to their mammalian counterparts.