HVC (formerly, hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis (HVc), and high vocal center) is a nucleus in the brain of the
songbirds
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5 ...
(order passeriformes) necessary for both the learning and the production of
bird song. It is located in the lateral caudal
nidopallium and has projections to both the
direct and the anterior forebrain pathways.
It is notable that both of the other orders of birds that learn song, the
hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
and
parrots
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...
, also seem to have structures similar to HVC. Since it is believed that all three of these groups independently derived the ability to learn song, it is believed that these other HVC-like structures are examples of
homoplasy
Homoplasy, in biology and phylogenetics, is the term used to describe a feature that has been gained or lost independently in separate lineages over the course of evolution. This is different from homology, which is the term used to characterize ...
.
Name
HVC was originally called the hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis (HVc). Later neuroanatomy revealed this name to be incorrect, however, and many researchers referred to it as the high vocal center due to its important function in vocal learning. When the nomenclature of the avian brain was officially revised in 2004, these names were officially dropped in order to correct the historical inaccuracies. As there was "No easy solution for correcting original naming error for this structure" HVC was established as the formal name for the region and
no longer stands for anything.
Anatomy
HVC is located in the caudal
nidopallium. It projects to the song motor pathway via the robust nucleus of the
arcopallium (RA) and to the Anterior Forebrain Pathway via the
basal ganglia
The basal ganglia (BG), or basal nuclei, are a group of subcortical nuclei, of varied origin, in the brains of vertebrates. In humans, and some primates, there are some differences, mainly in the division of the globus pallidus into an exter ...
nucleus Area X.
It receives
recurrent motor activity through the
thalamic nucleus Uvaformis (Uva) and input from the
auditory system through projections from the caudalateral mesopallium (CMM) and through the nucleus interfacialis (NIf).
Four distinct types of neurons have been identified in HVC, each with unique anatomical and physiological properties:
interneurons, RA-projecting cells (HVC), and X-projecting cells (HVC), and Nucleus Avalanche (Av) projecting cells (HVC
AV).
See also
*
Bird vocalization
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by fun ...
*
Song control system
References
External links
* {{MeshName, High+Vocal+Center
Bird neuroanatomy
Animal nervous system