Brain activity in Cluster N and the hippocampus in non-migratory zebra finches completing a spatial orientation task using magnetic compass information.

Overview

Authors: Madeleine IR Brodbeck¹, Rachel Muheim², Atticus Pinzon-Rodriguez², Scott A MacDougall-Shackleton¹

ORCID iDs: Madeleine IR Brodbeck, Atticus Pinzon-Rodriguez

Department of Psychology, Advanced Facility for Avian Research, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Institutions: Western University (Canada); Lund University (Sweden)

Journal: PloS one, volume 21, issue 4, article e0348066

Dates: received 11 July 2025; accepted 10 April 2026; published online 30 April 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0348066 · PMID 42060574 · PMCID PMC13132197 · OpenAlex W7159597698

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only (how the code is found and verified)

Categories: other (organism)

Methods: Statistics, Connectivity, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions

MeSH: Brain*, Finches*, Hippocampus*, Magnetic Fields*, Orientation, Spatial*, Animal Migration, Animals, Cues, Early Growth Response Protein 1, Male, Orientation (* major topic)

Topic: Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects (Biophysics, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (21738); Vetenskapsrådet (2019-03620)

Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 30 references in the paper

Research resources: 000) or anti- GluR-1 RRID:AB_2113602

Abstract

The songbird brain region called Cluster N has been implicated as important for low-light vision and/or the perception of Earth’s magnetic field for migratory orientation. This region of the visual Wulst is active in migratory songbirds under dim light conditions and an intact Cluster N is necessary for magnetic compass orientation in a nocturnally migrating songbird species. Given that magnetic field information is useful for orientation outside of a migration context, it is likely that Cluster N processes magnetic compass information more generally. Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) can use magnetic compass cues to find food in a plus maze, even though they are not nocturnal migrants. Our objective was to determine if Cluster N is active when zebra finches use their magnetic compass to orient in a plus maze. Zebra finches were tested under three conditions: i) a static magnetic field that reliably indicated the food location, ii) a sweeping magnetic field, or iii) a vertical magnetic field. The latter two conditions did not provide any directional information. Brains were collected following the task and processed to label the immediate early gene zenk. We found elevated Zenk immunoreactivity in the forebrain region defined as Cluster N in other species and in the hippocampus. We found no differences in Zenk between the three magnetic field conditions, providing no conclusive evidence for whether Cluster N is involved in the processing of magnetic compass information. In conclusion, our results are consistent with the idea that Cluster N is not a brain area restricted to nocturnally migrating songbirds, but that it is also found in non-migratory birds carrying out a spatial orientation task, possibly involving magnetic compass cues, under dim light conditions.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

Datasets cited

osf:y7uxw, at OSF; found in “Data Availability”

Data Availability

Data for this project are available on OSF at: https://osf.io/y7uxw/?view_only=d6a0059d7c044e1ab74ba44b253a7892.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 4 authors, 11 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 29 references, 1 RRID.

Cite

This paper

Brodbeck, M. I., Muheim, R., Pinzon-Rodriguez, A., & MacDougall-Shackleton, S. A. (2026). Brain activity in Cluster N and the hippocampus in non-migratory zebra finches completing a spatial orientation task using magnetic compass information. PloS one, 21(4), e0348066. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348066

BibTeX

@article{brodbeck2026brain, author = {Brodbeck, Madeleine IR and Muheim, Rachel and Pinzon-Rodriguez, Atticus and MacDougall-Shackleton, Scott A}, title = {{Brain activity in Cluster N and the hippocampus in non-migratory zebra finches completing a spatial orientation task using magnetic compass information}}, journal = {PloS one}, year = {2026}, month = apr, volume = {21}, number = {4}, pages = {e0348066}, publisher = {PLOS}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0348066}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348066}, pmid = {42060574}, pmcid = {PMC13132197} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Brodbeck, Madeleine IR AU - Muheim, Rachel AU - Pinzon-Rodriguez, Atticus AU - MacDougall-Shackleton, Scott A TI - Brain activity in Cluster N and the hippocampus in non-migratory zebra finches completing a spatial orientation task using magnetic compass information T2 - PloS one J2 - PLoS One PY - 2026 DA - 2026/04/30 VL - 21 IS - 4 SP - e0348066 SN - 1932-6203 PB - PLOS DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0348066 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348066 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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