Bird Song Learning – Flashcards
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Imprinting
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innate form of learning often associated with development
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How is birdsong learning similar to Human speech learning? Both have:
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-critical period -trial and error motor learning -hearing is crucial for speech
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What could alter hearing as a crucial step for auditory processing?
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deafness stuttering dyslexia
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What animals learn vocal behaviors
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marine animals, bats and elephants aside from humans, birds,
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3 classes of vocal learning birds
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-passeriformes (perching birds) -apodiformes (swifts, hummingbirds) -psittaciforms (parrots, cockatoos, macaws)
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How do bird songs vary? 5 ways
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-between species -within species that come from different regions - in a sexual context -in an individual context or in a social context
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How do you get dialects?
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from different pressures, sometimes regional birds can switch btw dialects
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What could be a proximate cause to bird song differing among individuals?
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development; starving a bird during its critical period changes its song
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Structure of the song: What are the three parts to a bird song, specifically in White Crown Sparrow?
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Whistle, Trill, Buzz
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T/F young white crowned sparrows chirp more when they hear con-specific songs
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TRUE, their species specific song has more salience
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How could we explain the salience of fledglings to their con-specific song?
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the sensory neurons are tuned to con-specific songs
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Describe the outcome of Marler's Classic experiment to figure out what are the proximate mechanisms to produce bird song
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fledglings that could only hear bird songs could only learn their own song HOWEVER when visual AND auditory cues were combined, the fledglings learned the song of the birds they saw, even while hearing their own species song
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What is the conclusion of Marler's experiment
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hearing and seeing outweighs just hearing a song; bird song is more nurture than nature
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Open ended learners and examples
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multiple critical periods where learning opens up again Ex. parrots, canaries
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There are species known to be parasitic. What are they?
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don't have nests with their own eggs, dump eggs in other people's own nests
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What is expected of the song of the offspring of parasitic birds?
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produce their own species song
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T/F there are only genetic components to learning bird song
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false; birds learn flexibly from their environment and genes
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What can genetic factors determine about the songs the birds sing? (4)
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-predisposed to certain songs - timing for learning -constraints due to vocal and brain structures -sexual differences
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What is the human equivalent of the bird syrinx?
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larynx
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T/F bird song is genetically predisposed
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FALSE they are not; whatever bird they heard and saw they learned also proved by the parasitic birds
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T/F song is a stereotyped motor behavior
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TRUE it is learned and involves a critical period and auditory practice
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What does it mean to be a stereotyped behavior?
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the behavior is learned by mimicking a parent usually
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How do we know that bird song is learned? (3)
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-if you tutor a hatched bird with a foster parent that sings a different species song, it will learn the song of the tutor -birds that are raised in acoustically isolated (deaf or no tutor) couldn't sing normally (they still could sing but not the same structure) - must hear self and others
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Is song is controlled by discrete neural circuits, what reflects the repertoire size?
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the size of the nuclei
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What controls the size of the nuclei?
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gonadal hormones and their release is influenced by seasons and sexual mechanism
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What are the steps in bird song lerning
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hear and memorize the tutor song sing and match you vocalizations to the memorized song using hearing
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critical period
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time in early development when song is heard and memorized -listens to tutor and develops a template aka sensory
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sensorimotor
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subsong babbling, must hear self song is plastic (not yet set in stone) aka memorizing period
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crystallized
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stereotyped song matches template
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template
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the song to be memorized
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Age limited learners and 2 examples
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have 1 critical period; aka close ended learners zebra finches & sparrows
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What is the bird version of human babble?
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subsong
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3 parts to the critical period
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sensory- watch and hear sensorimotor- practice (hear yourself) crystalize
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How long does it take Zebra finches to learn and match their song?
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120 days first 60: sensory (watch and hear) day 25-90: sensorimotor (practice) day 120- crystalize
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How long does it take for Sparrows to learn?
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1 year Spring 1- sensory Autumn- sensorimotor Spring 2-Cristalize
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T/F Eastern phoebes are song birds
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FALSO doesn't need to learn its song.
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Deaf Eastern Phoebes can still produce their species specific song. What can you conclude about it's sound producing mechanism?
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Therefore it's ability to sing is heavily weighed upon their genetics
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If you played two different songs during its critical period of sensory acquisition, does it sing both songs or one?
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it sings both, but the latter one more
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If you played two different songs, one during it's sensory acquisition stage and the other after its sensory acquisition stage (learning and crystallization) what is the result?
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it will sing the song played during its earliest stage of sensory acquisition
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Describe vocal learning in one word
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gradient
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how long does it take humans to learn their first word?
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a year
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In humans, how long does the sensory universal speech perception stage last?
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the first 6 months
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in humans, how long does the babbling/ language specific speech perception stage last?
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from the 6th month to the 12th month, it's first word being on the 12th month
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When is the sensory acquisition phase in finches?
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from day 20- 60
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when is the sensorymotor learning phase in finches?
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from day 40-120
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When does crystallization occur?
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from day 120 onward
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How many nuclei clusters are involved in learning and producing speech?
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6 HVC RA LMAN Area X DLM
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Posterior pathway is responsible for_____. It is composed of the _____&_____
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song production higher vocal cluster and RA
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What is the posterior pathway connected to?
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connected to syrinx and respiratory muscles
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Environmental conditions that impact nuclei size
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food access: decrease HVC
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If you lesion the higher vocal center,
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the animals are defected in producing song
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How to disrupt a function in permanent and temporary ways?
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lesion- permanent drugs- temporary
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What happens if you lesion the LMAN during the sensorimotor period?
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song learning is disrupted
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What happens if you lesion area X during the sensorimotor period?
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song learning is disrupted
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If you lesion LMAN or area X in open ended learners
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after the 1st season, it would become a close ended learner; whatever it learned in the first season would be its only song
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T/F if you lesion the LMAN or Area X in close ended learners after the sensorimotor period, it produces abnormal song
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FALSE after the sensory motor period at least one song is crystallized, so it doesn't really need the LMAN or area A after one song is learned UNLESS it's a practicing male
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If you lesion LMAN after song crystallization in close ended learners
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no effect
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Adult singing: practice What does the LMAN look like?
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indirected; males practice after critical period; neural bursts
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Adult singing: performance
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directed
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What brain area is different under social circumstances?
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LMAN neuron firing
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T/F the LMAN fires different number of times in directed vs indirected vocal learning
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FALSE they fire the same time number of times and at pretty similar times; same amount of activity
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What can we say about the way neurons are fired in directed song?
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directed is more stereotyped each trial has matching tempo of notes
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What can we say about the way neurons are fired in indirected song?
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more varied and fires in bursts; fired in rapid succession not individual
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What brain area is increases bursting? in what kind of situation (performance or practice)?
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in LMAN during undirected (practice) situations
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Explore s Exploit
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explore- motor practice explains bursts exploit- always the same in performance
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Performance practice hypothesis: How do we know that the directed song is performance?
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females responded more to directed song recordings (male is singing to a female) than undirected song recordings ; the purpose of directed song is to perform and undirected if for practice
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T/F Females are more attracted to varied song
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FALSE they are more attracted to stereotyped song
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What lead to ultimate differences that determined what males females were attracted to?
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the song repertoire of the male
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T/F cheaters are high quality mates
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FALSE
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sexual dimorphisms in size of song nuclei are due to
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androgens/ gonadal hormones
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What brain areas are larger in males
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HVC, RA, and area X
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What experiment proves that the differences in the brain are sexual?
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testosterone treatment of a YOUNG HATCHED female caused the area X to enlarge thus leading to masculinization of behavior
