High vocal center
The HVC (formerly, the higher vocal center) is a nucleus in the brain of the songbirds (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 and parrots, also seem to have structures similar to the 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.
[edit] Nomenclature
The HVC was originally called the hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis, higher vocal centre or HVc. When the nomenclature of the avian brain was revised in 2004,[2] however, for various reasons these names were dropped. In order to keep the same acronym the structure was renamed HVC. The acronym HVC now is the official name for the region, despite no longer standing for anything.
[edit] References
- ^ Nottebohm, F. (2005). "The Neural Basis of Birdsong". PLoS Biology 3 (5): e164. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030164. PMC 1110917. PMID 15884976. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1110917.
- ^ Reiner, A.; Perkel, D. J.; Mello, C. V.; Jarvis, E. D. (2004). "Songbirds and the Revised Avian Brain Nomenclature". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1016: 77–108. doi:10.1196/annals.1298.013. PMC 2481519. PMID 15313771. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2481519.
