Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Hierarchy of Motor Control

Hierarchy of Motor Control

The hierarchy of motor control refers to the different levels of organization and processing involved in controlling movement in the body. These levels range from higher cortical areas involved in planning and decision-making to lower spinal cord reflexes that respond automatically to external stimuli.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Random-with-constraints: Constructing minimal models for high-dimensional biology.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

High performance sorting of motor unit action potentials with EMUsort.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Motor unit mechanisms of speed control in mouse locomotion.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025

Same author

Opto-Myomatrix: μLED Integrated Microelectrode Arrays for Optogenetic Activation and Electrical Recording in Muscle Tissue.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025

Same author

Physics-tailored machine learning reveals unexpected physics in dusty plasmas.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025

Same author

A mathematical model for ketosis-prone diabetes suggests the existence of multiple pancreatic β-cell inactivation mechanisms.

eLife·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 2025

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds

Published on: November 26, 2012

Millisecond-scale motor coding precedes sensorimotor learning in songbirds.

Leila May M Pascual^1,2, Aanya Vusirikala², Ilya M Nemenman^3,4,2

¹Neuroscience Graduate Program, Emory University, Atlanta, United States.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology

|October 10, 2024

Summary

Songbirds learn motor skills by refining their neural vocabulary, not by changing the precision of their neural code. This study reveals how the brain adapts neural activity for vocal learning in juvenile finches.

More Related Videos

Design and Assembly of an Ultra-light Motorized Microdrive for Chronic Neural Recordings in Small Animals

Design and Assembly of an Ultra-light Motorized Microdrive for Chronic Neural Recordings in Small Animals

Published on: November 8, 2012

Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning

Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning

Published on: June 2, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 11, 2025

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds

Published on: November 26, 2012

Design and Assembly of an Ultra-light Motorized Microdrive for Chronic Neural Recordings in Small Animals

Design and Assembly of an Ultra-light Motorized Microdrive for Chronic Neural Recordings in Small Animals

Published on: November 8, 2012

Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning

Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning

Published on: June 2, 2014

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Animal Behavior
Bioacoustics

Background:

Motor skill acquisition is a key function of the nervous system in young animals.
Songbirds provide a model system for studying vocal learning and neural control.
Previous research indicated reduced spike rate variability during song learning, suggesting a shift to precise motor coding.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how the neural vocabulary and neural code change during song acquisition in juvenile songbirds.
To quantify the relationship between neural activity and vocal acoustics during motor learning.

Main Methods:

Analyzing spike patterns and firing rates in the vocal motor cortex of juvenile Bengalese finches during song learning.
Correlating neural activity with song acoustics to assess the precision of the neural code.
Distinguishing changes in the neural vocabulary (spike patterns) from changes in the neural code (relationship between spikes and acoustics).

Main Results:

Spike rate variability decreased during song acquisition, indicating a change in the neural vocabulary.
The precision of the neural code, measured by 1-2 ms spike timing variations, remained consistent between juvenile and adult singers.
Fluctuations in firing rates on longer timescales did not impact motor output in either juveniles or adults.

Conclusions:

Learning-related changes in cortical activity involve modifying the neural vocabulary to align with a stable, precise neural code.
The precision of the neural code, operating on millisecond timescales, is established early and does not change during vocal skill acquisition.
The brain adapts its neural vocabulary to optimize vocal control rather than altering the fundamental precision of the motor code.