Amirreza Bahramani

2025 UCL Neuropixels Course - YouTube Lectures at the 2025 UCL Neuropixels course (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/neuropixels/training/2025-neuropixels-course)

All talks of the 2025 UCL #Neuropixels course are now available: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

For more information on the course see the website: www.ucl.ac.uk/neuropixels/...

And for those at #SfN, come say hi at the #Neuropixels booth (Number 3731) or at my Poster 👋.

Happy Neuropixeling!

Applications are now open for the SWC Systems Neuroscience PhD Programme.

Join us in London!

🧠 World-class neuroscience training
💰 Fully-funded 4-year programme
🖥️ Close links to @gatsbyucl.bsky.social

Apply by 3 Nov: www.sainsburywellcome.org/web/content/...

A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour - Nature The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task i...

The two key studies of the International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social are out today!

A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats!

Context-dependent modulations in zebra finch distance calls revealed by a novel goal-directed vocalization paradigm - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Context-dependent modulations in zebra finch distance calls revealed by a novel goal-directed vocalization paradigm

This challenges the idea that bird calls are rigid and unchangeable. It also opens new avenues for studying vocal control in animals. Want to dive into the details? Read the full paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 📖🔬

So, zebra finches not only learned to use their calls for a new purpose but also modulated them based on the context. This suggests vocal flexibility thought to be exclusive to songs!

We analyzed the calls and found significant differences! 🧐 Distance calls aimed at other birds (aDCs) were louder and had more harmonic structure than calls used to get food (gDCs).

But do these calls change depending on context? 🎧 Listen to this audio: Can you hear the difference between distance calls used for food vs. those used to communicate with other birds? 🤔

Here’s a bird who learned this very well! In this video, you can see a male zebra finch using its distance call to request food. Clearly, they learned the association!

We trained food-restricted zebra finches to use their distance call to get food. 🍴 Using a closed-loop system, the birds learned that calling triggered a feeder. 9 out of 10 birds successfully learned!

Zebra finches use distance calls to maintain contact when visually separated. These calls are louder and longer than other calls, helping birds stay connected over distances. But are they fixed in meaning or can they be adapted? 🤔

Context-dependent modulations in zebra finch distance calls revealed by a novel goal-directed vocalization paradigm - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Context-dependent modulations in zebra finch distance calls revealed by a novel goal-directed vocalization paradigm

Can birds repurpose their calls for new goals? 🐦 Our study shows that zebra finches can learn to use their distance calls to request food—and even modulate them based on the context! A thread from: www.nature.com/articles/s41...