鸣禽与人类发声器官及发声行为神经控制通路的比较

Comparison of Vocal Organs and Neural Control Pathways of Vocal Behavior Between Songbirds and Humans

与人类语言学习或形成一样,鸣禽鸣唱也是一种发声学习行为,二者具有一定的相似性,例如发声学习过程均需听觉反馈的参与,幼年期具有更强的发声学习能力,可对复杂的声学结构和音节序列进行控制等。尽管鸣禽和人类的发声器官在结构上有很大差异,但二者发声的物理机制仍表现出很强的相似性。虽然相比于其他哺乳动物,鸣禽和人类的亲缘关系很远,但通过对比发声行为产生的基础通路——脑干先天发声控制通路,以及与发声学习相关的更高神经水平的发声运动和学习通路脑区位置、相互联系、功能及基因表达谱,提示鸣禽鸣唱和人类语言的神经控制具有一定的进化相似性。这些共同特征使得鸣禽成为了研究发声学习的理想模型。本文对鸣禽与人类的发声器官及发声行为的神经控制通路进行了比较,并对鸣禽模型在人类失语症治疗研究中潜在的应用前景进行了展望,以期为研究人类语言学习的神经机制及语言障碍的治疗带来理论参考和借鉴。

Like human language learning or formation,songbirds’singing is also a vocal learning behavior.There are clear similarities between them,for example,both of them need auditory feedback to participate in the process of vocal learning,and have stronger vocal learning ability in the juvenile stage and control ability of complex acoustic structures and syllable sequences.Despite the great structural differences between the vocal organs of songbirds and humans,the physical mechanism of their vocalization still shows strong similarity.Although songbirds are distantly related to humans compared to mammals,it is suggested that the neural control of songbird singing and human language also have some evolutionary similarities,by comparing their brain stem innate vocal control pathways,which is the basic pathway for vocal behavior,and the location,interconnection,function and gene expression profile of vocal motor pathways and vocal learning pathways at a higher neural level related to vocal learning.These common features make songbirds an ideal model for studying vocal learning.This review compared the vocal organs and neural control pathways of vocal behavior between songbirds and humans,and forecasted the potential application of songbird models in the treatment of human aphasia,to bring theoretical reference for studying the neural mechanism of human language learning and the treatment of language disorders.