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SUMMARY: A framework for studying the neurobiology of female choice and gr
 oup cohesion in a social songbird. - Professor Marc Schmidt (University of
  Pennsylvania)
DTSTART:20220304T163000Z
DTEND:20220304T180000Z
UID:TALK168848@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Psychology Reception
DESCRIPTION:Courtship is complex and is influenced by many factors includi
 ng social context\, hormone levels\, and environmental stimuli. The specif
 ic neural circuits that underlie the regulation of this suite of behaviors
  is poorly understood. My laboratory is investigating the role that a neur
 al circuit known as the ‘song system”\, which has exclusively been stu
 died in the context of singing in males\, plays in regulating courtship be
 havior in females. My talk will discuss work in the laboratory\, where we 
 investigate the neural bases of female choice. I will also talk about prel
 iminary work from our new outdoor “smart aviary”\, where we use newly 
 developed computer-vision approaches to non-invasively track moment-to-mom
 ent behavioral interactions\, both vocal and non-vocal\, in a stable group
  of 16 birds during the entire breeding season. This work aims to quantify
  courtship interactions in the group and identify patterns that become dys
 regulated following lesions to the “song system” circuit.\n\nBio: Marc
  Schmidt is a Professor in the Department of Biology and Neuroscience Prog
 ram at the University of Pennsylvania. His work has focused on the neural 
 bases of vocal production in songbirds focusing on questions ranging from 
 state-dependent regulation of auditory processing to investigating the rol
 e of brainstem circuits in the generation of learned vocal sequences. Afte
 r doctoral work focused primarily on neural development\, he switched to s
 tudying songbirds during his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Mas
 akazu Konishi at Caltech. His current work has moved in a more behavioral 
 direction focusing on the biology of female choice and the role of female 
 signaling in establishing social group dynamics.
LOCATION:Zoom meeting
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