Connectomics of learned behavior

How do animals store learned behaviours in their neuronal networks and retrieve them when performing those behaviours? It is widely believed that the connections between neurons, or synapses, are the memory substrate. The sum total of all these synaptic connections is called the connectome.

Using the zebra finch songbird as a model, we investigate how song memories are stored and retrieved from the underlying brain circuits. These birds can perform songs as an adult that they have practiced as a juvenile, not unlike how humans learn language.

To map these brain circuits at sufficient resolution to see synapses, we employ high-throughput 3D electron microscopy. Vast amounts of image data result from this process, far more data than someone could ever look through manually. Thus, to analyse the data, we employ state-of-the-art deep learning techniques to infer the connectomic map, and let the artificial neural networks reconstruct the real ones.

Our long-term goal is to mechanistically understand how a learned behaviour, the zebra finch song, is encoded in the underlying synaptic wiring patterns, and create a link between the specific behaviour of an individual and the connectome it is based on.