2026年5月13日，杜克大学医学院Richard Mooney小组在《自然》杂志发表论文，宣布他们提出了歌唱学习的突触位点。

通过将计算框架与皮质-基底神经节回路内部和下游的突触特异性光遗传学和化学遗传学操作相结合，课题组确定了在青少年歌曲学习过程中驱动快速声音变化获得和表达的特定皮质-基底神经节突触，并表征了这些变化巩固的较长时间尺度。

此外，基底节区突触后活动的短暂增强短暂地加快了学习速度，并持续地改变了歌曲，这表明基底节区活动与快速学习之间存在直接联系。这些结果定位了特定的皮质-基底神经节突触，这些突触使幼年鸣禽能够学习唱歌，并揭示了这种模仿学习范式的电路逻辑和行为时间尺度。

据介绍，模仿学习是语言和数学表达的基础，但其神经基础尚不清楚。一只幼年雄性斑胸草雀模仿成年导师的多音节歌曲，这一过程依赖于一个专门歌唱的皮质-基底神经节回路，提供了一个强大的系统来识别模仿运动学习的突触基板。一组特定的皮质-基底神经节突触的可塑性被假设在这些变化随后在下游回路中巩固之前，驱动了歌曲中与学习相关的快速变化。然而，这一假设未经检验，学习最初发生的突触位置也不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: A synaptic locus of song learning

Author: Schreiner, Drew C., Brudner, Samuel, Li, Amanda, Pearson, John, Mooney, Richard

Issue&Volume: 2026-05-13

Abstract: Learning by imitation is the foundation for verbal and musical expression, but its neural basis remains unclear. A juvenile male zebra finch imitates the multisyllabic song of an adult tutor in a process that depends on a song-specialized cortico-basal ganglia circuit1,2,3,4, affording a powerful system to identify the synaptic substrates of imitative motor learning. Plasticity at a particular set of cortico-basal ganglia synapses is hypothesized to drive rapid learning-related changes in song before these changes are subsequently consolidated in downstream circuits5. Nevertheless, this hypothesis is untested and the synaptic locus where learning initially occurs is unclear. Here, by combining a computational framework to quantify song learning with synapse-specific optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulations within and downstream of the cortico-basal ganglia circuit, we identified the specific cortico-basal ganglia synapses that drive the acquisition and expression of rapid vocal changes during juvenile song learning and characterized the hours-long timescale over which these changes consolidate. Furthermore, transiently augmenting postsynaptic activity in the basal ganglia briefly accelerates learning rates and persistently alters song, demonstrating a direct link between basal ganglia activity and rapid learning. These results localize the specific cortico-basal ganglia synapses that enable a juvenile songbird to learn to sing and reveal the circuit logic and behavioural timescales of this imitative learning paradigm.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10510-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10510-x