A lightweight feedback-controlled microdrive for chronic neural recordings.

Objective: Chronic neural recordings have provided many insights into the relationship between neural activity and behavior. We set out to develop a miniaturized motorized microdrive that allows precise electrode positioning despite possibly unreliable motors.

Approach: We designed a feedback-based motor control mechanism.

A higher sensory brain region is involved in reversing reinforcement-induced vocal changes in a songbird.

Many animals exhibit flexible behaviors that they can adjust to increase reward or avoid harm (learning by positive or aversive reinforcement). But what neural mechanisms allow them to restore their original behavior (motor program) after reinforcement is withdrawn? One possibility is that motor restoration relies on brain areas that have a role in memorization but no role in either motor production or in sensory processing relevant for expressing the behavior and its refinement. We investigated the role of a higher auditory brain area in the songbird for modifying and restoring the stereotyped adult song.