# The role of experience during the critical period for the development of vocal motor circuits

> **NIH NIH F31** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $39,566

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 In species that learn vocalizations, social experience acts on genetically encoded
forebrain circuits to enable vocal imitation. Critical periods limit when this social experience can
influence the development and function of neural circuits required for vocal learning. In
songbirds, HVC is a necessary song neurocircuit component to form a song memory from the
social experience of hearing an adult vocal model (“tutoring”). Yet, HVC is also necessary as a
premotor region after the critical period. It is not well understood how the tutoring experience
acts on HVC to allow this dual sensory and motor function. Our single-nucleus RNA-sequencing
results demonstrate that the proportion of HVC’s projection neurons change throughout
development. During the sensory critical period, HVC neurons that project to the auditory region
and basal ganglia pathway are proportionally more than those that project to the motor pathway.
I hypothesize that HVC uses these distinct cell types to function as a sensory region early in
development prior to the maturation of its motor function. I therefore expect that the two former
projection neuron types experience the most genetic and electrophysiological changes related
to learning from the social tutoring experience compared to the latter projection neuron type. To
test this, I will examine single-cell epigenomic and transcriptional changes from tutoring
experience to measure changes in immediate early genes and genes related to plasticity and
learning. I will also use optogenetic circuit mapping to measure the changes in synaptic strength
from tutoring experience.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10836350
- **Project number:** 5F31NS131049-02
- **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Carlos Giovanni Orozco
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $39,566
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-06-01 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10836350

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10836350, The role of experience during the critical period for the development of vocal motor circuits (5F31NS131049-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10836350. Licensed CC0.

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