Localized brain activation specific to auditory memory in a female songbird

Song acquisition in songbird males is a prominent model system for the study of the brain mechanisms of memory. Male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) learn their songs from an adult conspecific tutor early in life. Previous work has shown that exposure of males to their tutor song leads to increased expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) in the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) and in the caudomedial mesopallium (CMM). In addition, IEG expression in the NCM correlates significantly with the strength of song learning. Interpretation of these findings is complicated, as males both learn the characteristics of tutor song and learn to produce a similar own song. Female zebra finches do not sing, but nevertheless they learn the characteristics of a song to which they were exposed when young, and form a preference for it. Here, adult zebra finch females reared with their fathers showed a significant preference for their father's song. Females that were later reexposed to their father's song showed significantly greater expression of Zenk, the protein product of the IEG ZENK, than controls that were exposed to a novel song, in the CMM, but not in the NCM or hippocampus. These results suggest that in female zebra finches the CMM may be (part of) the neural substrate for the representation of the memory of their father's song.