Former Staff Member
Dr. Tiny BOUMANS
Research
Songbirds (Passeriformes oscines) learn to sing by imitation. Current investigation of birdsong reveals detailed and intriguing parallels with human speech, like the importance of auditory information for learning and producing a vocal behaviour. The brain circuitry involved in hearing, learning and producing songs is very well documented in songbirds, and make them an excellent model for studying the activity of brain regions during cognitive tasks. Functional MRI allows one to study in vivo brain activity in the entire brain at once, and is the most used method for neural substrate studies of speech and language processing in human brain. With the help of BOLD fMRI, Tiny Boumans investigates song perception and processing in the brain of zebra finches. With a view to auditory memory, progress in this research area is relevant for further improvement in the cognitive neurobiology of memory processes.
Publications
Dr. Tiny BOUMANS
Research
Songbirds (Passeriformes oscines) learn to sing by imitation. Current investigation of birdsong reveals detailed and intriguing parallels with human speech, like the importance of auditory information for learning and producing a vocal behaviour. The brain circuitry involved in hearing, learning and producing songs is very well documented in songbirds, and make them an excellent model for studying the activity of brain regions during cognitive tasks. Functional MRI allows one to study in vivo brain activity in the entire brain at once, and is the most used method for neural substrate studies of speech and language processing in human brain. With the help of BOLD fMRI, Tiny Boumans investigates song perception and processing in the brain of zebra finches. With a view to auditory memory, progress in this research area is relevant for further improvement in the cognitive neurobiology of memory processes.
Publications
- Own Song Selectivity in the Songbird Auditory Pathway: Suppression by Norepinephrine.
C. Poirier, T. Boumans, M. Vellema, G. De Groof, T.D. Charlier, M. Verhoye, A. Van Der Linden, J. Balthazart
PLoS One, in press. - Implementation of spin-echo blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI in birds.
C. Poirier, M. Verhoye, T. Boumans, A. Van Der Linden.
NMR Biomed. 2010 Nov;23(9), p. 1027-32. - Own-song recognition in the songbird auditory pathway: selectivity and lateralization.
C. Poirier, T. Boumans, M. Verhoye, J. Balthazart, A. Van der Linden.
Journal of Neuroscience. 2009 Feb 18;29(7):2252-8.
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MRI in small brains displaying extensive plasticity.
A. Van der Linden, V. Van Meir, T. Boumans, C. Poirier and J. Balthazart.
Trends in Neuroscience. 2009 32(5): 257-66. -
Functional MRI of auditory responses in the zebra finch forebrain reveals a hierarchical organisation based on signal strength but not selectivity.
T. Boumans, S.M. Gobes, C. Poirier, F.E. Theunissen, L. Vandersmissen, W. Pintjens, M. Verhoye, J.J. Bolhuis, A. Van der Linden.
PLoS ONE. 2008 Sep 10;3(9):e3184. -
Measuring brain hemodynamic changes in a songbird: responses to hypercapnia measured with functional MRI and near-infrared spectroscopy.
C. Vignal, T. Boumans, B. Montcel, S. Ramstein, M. Verhoye, J. Van Audekerke, N. Mathevon, A. Van der Linden, S. Mottin.
Phys Med Biol. 2008 May 21;53(10):2457-70. (PubMed) -
A three-dimensional MRI atlas of the zebra finch brain in stereotaxic coordinates.
C. Poirier, M. Vellema, M. Verhoye, V. Van Meir, J.M. Wild, J. Balthazart, A. Van Der Linden.
Neuroimage. 2008 May 15;41(1):1-6. -
Functional magnetic resonance imaging in zebra finch discerns the neural substrate involved in segregation of conspecific song from background noise.
T. Boumans, C. Vignal, A. Smolders, J. Sijbers, M. Verhoye, J. Van Audekerke, N. Mathevon, A. Van der Linden.
J Neurophysiol. 2008 Feb;99(2):931-8. -
Neural representation of spectral and temporal features of song in the auditory forebrain of zebra finches as revealed by functional MRI.
T. Boumans, F. E. Theunissen, C. Poirier and A. Van Der Linden.
Eur J Neurosci. 2007 Nov;26(9):2613-26. -
IR-SE and IR-MEMRI enables in vivo visualization of oscine neuroarchitecture including the main forebrain regions of the Song Control System.
I. Tindemans, T. Boumans, M. Verhoye, A. Van der Linden.
NMR in Biomedicine 2006 Feb;19(1):18-29. -
Spatiotemporal properties of the BOLD response in the songbirds' auditory circuit during a variety of listening tasks.
V. Van Meir, T. Boumans, G. De Groof, J. Van Audekerke, A. Smolders, P. Scheunders, J. Sijbers, M. Verhoye, J. Balthazart, A. Van der Linden.
NeuroImage. 2005; 25: 1242-55
