# Identifying an Error Detection Circuit used for Internally Guided Learning

> **NIH NIH F31** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $34,247

## Abstract

Abstract:
Certain behaviors, including speech, are learned without external punishment or reward. Although the neural
circuits responsible for such internally guided learning remain poorly understood, they must include a circuit
that evaluates performance with reference to an internal model and transmits the resulting error signals to
downstream circuitry that adaptively reinforces behavior. The objective of this proposal is to identify evaluative
circuits that generate and transmit error signals important to internally guided vocal learning in songbirds. The
specific circuit node that will be studied is an auditory cortical homologue that provides direct input to midbrain
dopamine neurons that have recently been shown to adaptively reinforce vocal performance. I hypothesize that
this same pathway will be an essential player in the circuits of two discrete examples of internally evaluated
behavior: juvenile copying of a memorized tutor song and adult recovery of original song structure following
chronic exposure to distorted auditory feedback. I will test this hypothesis using causal, closed loop
optogenetic manipulations and correlative, widefield calcium imaging experiments. The completion of the aims
in this proposal will shed light on the neural circuits that mediate the self-evaluation necessary for a form of
internally guided vocal learning that shares parallels to human speech learning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10066276
- **Project number:** 1F31HD103343-01
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Marios Leonidas Tringides
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $34,247
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2021-07-12

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10066276

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10066276, Identifying an Error Detection Circuit used for Internally Guided Learning (1F31HD103343-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10066276. Licensed CC0.

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