Funding Source: Award R15HD085143 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health – There is a fundamental gap in understanding how plasticity in the nervous system supports the development of communication skills. The acquisition of a songbird’s song parallels human speech learning at the behavioral as well as the neuronal level and thus provides unique opportunities to investigate the neural mechanisms of learning and memory. In this project, we aim to determine how early auditory experience modifies neuronal systems underlying memory for vocalizations. We use manipulations of the early auditory environment, quantification of stimulus-dependent neuronal activation, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and pharmacological inhibition of neuronal activity. Understanding the normal development of auditory perception will allow us to further investigate auditory-vocal learning at the cellular and molecular level and, ultimately, to identify candidate mechanisms for disorders of auditory perception and language acquisition.