FOR WHOM THE BIRD SINGS - CONTEXT-DEPENDENT GENE-EXPRESSION

Male zebra finches display two song behaviors: directed and undirected singing. The two differ little in the vocalizations produced but grea tly in how song is delivered. ''Directed'' song is usually accompanied by a courtship dance and is addressed almost exclusively to females. ''Undirected'' song is not accompanied by the dance and is produced wh en the male is in the presence of other males, alone, or outside a nes t occupied by its mate. Here, we show that the anterior forebrain voca l pathway contains medial and lateral ''cortical-basal ganglia'' subdi visions that have differential ZENK gene activation depending on wheth er the bird sings female-directed or undirected song. Differences also occur in the vocal output nucleus, RA. Thus, although these two vocal behaviors are very similar, their brain activation patterns are drama tically different.