A birdʼs own song contributes to conspecific song perception (original) (raw)
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Cross-fostering diminishes song discrimination in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)
Animal Cognition, 2009
Song-production, -discrimination, and -preferences in oscine birds are dually inXuenced by species identity and the ontogenetic environment. The cross-fostering of a model species for recognition research, the zebra Wnch (Taeniopygia guttata) into heterospeciWc nests of the Bengalese Wnch (Lonchura striata vars. domestica) allows an exploration of the sensory limits of early development and the eVects of species-speciWc acoustic cues upon song discrimination in adulthood. To quantify the song preferences of female and male normal-reared (control) and Bengalese Wnch fostered zebra Wnches, we recorded multiple behavioral measures, including spatial proximity, vocalization rates and response latency, during sequential song-playback choice-trials using both tutor species' songs and the songs of two other ecologically relevant Australian species, the owl Wnch (Taeniopygia bichenovii) and the star Wnch (Neochmia ruWcauda). Response strength was variable between the diVerent measures, but no diVerences were detected within the speciWc behavioral responses towards the song playbacks of the two sexes. Control subjects strongly preferred their own species' songs while Bengalese-fostered zebra Wnches exhibited reduced song discrimination between con-, tutor-, and heterospeciWc songs. Overall behavioral responsiveness was also modulated by social ontogeny. These results indicate a diVerence in the strength of preference for song that is dependent on the spe-cies identity of the rearing environment in oscine birds and illustrate the role of multiple behavioral measures and ecologically relevant stimulus species selection in behavioral research using zebra Wnches.
Developmental Neurobiology, 2009
Juvenile male zebra finches develop their song by imitation. Females do not sing but are attracted to males' songs. With functional magnetic resonance imaging and event-related potentials we tested how early auditory experience shapes responses in the auditory forebrain of the adult bird. Adult male birds kept in isolation over the sensitive period for song learning showed no consistency in auditory responses to conspecific songs, calls, and syllables. Thirty seconds of song playback each day over development, which is sufficient to induce song imitation, was also sufficient to shape stimulus-specific responses. Strikingly, adult females kept in isolation over development showed responses similar to those of males that were exposed to songs. We suggest that early auditory experience with songs may be required to tune perception toward conspecific songs in males, whereas in females song selectivity develops even without prior exposure to song. '
International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2016
Despite their acoustic similarities, human infants are able to discriminate between infant-directed song (as produced by human adults) and infant-directed speech in both English and Russian. However, experimenters are somewhat limited in what they can test using the preference paradigm with infants. As a complement to a previous infant study (Tsang et al. 2016), we asked whether a songbird, the zebra finch, could discriminate infant directed song and speech in English and Russian, and tested responses to stimuli that humans could not categorize as either type. Male and female zebra finches learned to discriminate the stimuli in both languages equally well, although females were slightly faster at learning the discrimination, and generalized responses to untrained stimuli of the same categories. Bird responses to stimuli that humans could not categorize likewise did not follow a clear pattern. Our results show that infant-directed song and speech are discriminable as categories by no...
Behavioural Processes, 2017
The auditory forebrain regions caudo-medial nidopallium (NCM) and caudo-medial mesopallium (CMM) of songbirds exhibit differential expression of the immediate-early gene ZENK in response to playback of different song stimuli, and dependent on early-life auditory experience. Similarly, song preferences depend both on auditory experience and unlearned biases for particular song features. We explored the contributions of early-life auditory experience and the type of song stimuli on the Zenk response in the auditory forebrain of female zebra finches. Females were raised in three different early tutoring conditions: conspecific tutors that sang isolate song, heterospecific tutors, or conspecific tutors that sang wild-type song. At maturity, these females were exposed to one of five different playback conditions: wild-type song, isolate song, tutor song, heterospecific song, or white noise. Subsequently, the number of cells immunoreactive for ZENK in CMM and NCM was measured. We predicted that birds exposed to conspecific song early in life, and during the song playback in adulthood, would have the highest neural response. Instead, we found that the Zenk response varied across playback conditions with the highest response to conspecific wild-type and conspecific isolate song. In addition, we found a main effect of tutoring, with the lowest overall Zenk response in females tutored by males singing isolate song. Most importantly, there was a significant interaction in that females tutored by wild-type conspecific or heterospecific songs showed a similar increased response to zebra finch songs (wild-type or isolate), but females tutored by isolate song showed no differential response to conspecific song and only showed elevated Zenk response to the particular songs they were tutored with. Combined, our results indicate that unlearned response biases to conspecific song elements depend on previous auditory experience. That is, early experience appears to modulate the expression of innate biases.
Ontogeny of Song Recognition in Birds
Integrative and Comparative Biology, 1982
SYNOPSIS. This paper reviews song recognition in two congeneric species of sparrowthe swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) and song sparrow (Melospiza melodia). Data from psychophysical studies of hearing, tutoring experiments with young birds, and field playback studies with adult birds are considered together in order to gain insight into the mechanisms of species recognition through song development. In aggregate, the evidence suggests a multi-stage process of song development consisting of an early perceptual preference for learning conspecific song, a sensorimotor phase of song development during which vocal output matches an auditory memory as if through trial and error, and a final phase of full song which functions in territorial defense and mate attraction.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2002
Song in oscine birds is a culturally inherited mating signal and sexually dimorphic. From differences in song production learning, sex differences in song recognition learning have been inferred but rarely put to a stringent test. In zebra ® nches, Taeniopygia guttata, females never sing and the species has one of the greatest neuroanatomical differences in song-related brain nuclei reported for songbirds. Preference tests with sibling groups for which exposure to song had been identical during the sensitive phase for song learning in males, revealed equally strong in¯uence of the tutor' s song (here the father) on males' and females' adult song preferences. Both sexes signi® cantly preferred the father' s over unfamiliar song when having free control over exposure to playbacks via an operant task. The sibling comparisons suggest that this preference developed independently of the song' s absolute quality: variation between siblings was as great as between nests. The results show that early exposure has an equally strong in¯uence on males' and females' song preferences despite the sexual asymmetry in song production learning. This suggests that the trajectory for song recognition learning is independent of the one for song production learning.
2017
Despite their acoustic similarities, human infants are able to discriminate between infant-directed song (as produced by human adults) and infant-directed speech in both English and Russian. However, experimenters are somewhat limited in what they can test using the preference paradigm with infants. As a complement to a previous infant study (Tsang, Falk, & Hessel, 2016), we asked whether a songbird, the zebra finch, could discriminate infant-directed song and speech in English and Russian, and tested responses to stimuli that humans could not categorize as either type. Male and female zebra finches learned to discriminate the stimuli in both languages equally well, although females were slightly faster at learning the discrimination, and generalized responses to untrained stimuli of the same categories. Bird responses to stimuli that humans could not categorize likewise did not follow a clear pattern. Our results show that infant-directed song and speech are discriminable as categories by non-humans, that song and speech are as easy to discriminate in both English and Russian, and that comparative studies together can provide more complete answers to research questions about auditory perception than using one species or one language alone. Human caregivers worldwide modify their pitch, intonation, rhythm and tempo when communicating with infants (Fernald, 1989). The specific acoustic features or paralinguistic features that differentiate infantdirected (ID) speech from adult-directed (AD) speech or non-ID speech are well established. ID speech is often characterized by several acoustic features that are related to changes in prosody; compared to non-ID speech, vocalizations directed at infants tend to have higher pitch, slower tempo, a loving voice timbre, shorter and more repetitive utterances, and longer pauses (Fernald & Kuhl, 1987). Several studies have documented infant preferences for ID communication over AD or non-ID communication (e.g.
2013
Vocal development of juvenile songbirds and human infants requires interactions with adults to develop its proper form and function. Learning in many songbird species requires more than mere exposure to the song model, as the timing, speed, and accuracy of learning typically differ when exposed to live versus taped tutors. What mechanisms drive the superior learning performance associated with live interactions? Young learners can elicit contingent responses from adult social companions (e.g., in brown-headed cowbirds and human infants) in different modalities (e.g., wing strokes and social smiling) that reinforce learning and promote more advanced vocalizations. We studied vocal development in zebra finches to assess relations between vocal precursors in juveniles and contingent responses from the parents. Eight families were recorded between 30-75 days, and social interactions surrounding juvenile or adult song were analyzed. Juvenile and father song were compared when juveniles reached song maturation. We find that both parents contribute to juvenile song learning. Juveniles whose immature song received more contingent song from their fathers copied their father's song sequence more accurately. Conversely, adult song preceding juvenile song predicted less accurate learning. The courtship song of the adult male appears to be an especially powerful signal. Non-vocal feedback from mothers also predicts song learning. The number of maternal fluff-ups around and especially before juvenile song positively correlated with later sequential similarity between 14 adult and juvenile males, and female wing strokes were associated with-real time changes in the dominant frequency of the juvenile song syllables. Our results offer an alternative to the dominant model of song learning, and our findings imply that the mechanisms underlying the development of vocal communication may be best understood when studied within a social system.