Brain Changes During Sensitive Periods for Learning
Kathy Nordeen
One of the most important functions of the nervous system is to store information and produce adaptive behaviors
that refelct prior experience. To investigate the biological mechanisms that enable learning and memory, I exploit
the fact that many behaviors are best learned during discrete developmental periods. Such "sensitive" periods
reflect a powerful influence of experience on neural and behavioral development, and are characteristic of
imprinting, the development of normal sensory function, and human language acquisition.
To identify cellular mechanisms that mediate plasticity during sensitive periods, I study vocal learning in songbirds. Avian song learning involves memorization of song material followed by vocal practice that is guided by auditory feedback and most species can learn to sing only during restricted developmental or seasonal periods. We employ behavioral, anatomical, pharmacological, and molecular analyses to determine how maturational changes in neural organization and function influence, or are influenced by, vocal learning. The goal is to determine how information is stored through experience-dependent modifications of the developing nervous system.