8/ Want a deeper dive? Check out the full paper at journals.plos.org/plosone/arti.... Happy to chat more about social neural coding or how to implement similar recording gear!

7/ Tools: Our open-access microdrive design—orchestrating reliable, long-term neural recordings—is freely shared (CaltechDATA repository) for the community to use and build upon.

6/ Takeaway: NCM isn’t sensitive to whether it’s the bird singing or hearing itself—but it is sensitive to the presence of other birds. Suggests a specialized auditory representation tuned to social environment.

5/ Key insights:
• Behavioral context (self- vs. external song) → no change in neural encoding
• Social context (alone vs. with conspecifics) → marked modulation in response strength & selectivity
Plus, we observed stimulus-specific local field potential correlates in NCM.

4/ Our microdrive system is lightweight, durable for months, and broadly accessible—overcoming major hurdles in chronic recordings in small animals.

3/ We compared two contexts:
• Behavioral – hearing own song vs. actively singing it
• Social – listening while alone vs. in the presence of others
We found that NCM responses remained consistent across behavioral contexts but were changed social listening situations.

2/ Why zebra finches? They’re highly vocal and social—perfect for studying how neural responses in the auditory cortex (aka caudomedial nidopallium, or NCM) change with behavioral and social context.

Wow! Thank you @animal-prattle.bsky.social and @timsainburg.bsky.social for reading this paper and skeeting it up! I haven't even skeeted it myself yet.