scholarly journals Vocal learning beyond imitation: mechanisms of adaptive vocal development in songbirds and human infants

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ofer Tchernichovski ◽  
Gary Marcus
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Human Infants

scholarly journals High plasticity in marmoset monkey vocal development from infancy to adulthood

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (27) ◽  
pp. eabf2938
Author(s):  
Yasemin B. Gultekin ◽  
David G. C. Hildebrand ◽  
Kurt Hammerschmidt ◽  
Steffen R. Hage
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
First Year ◽  
High Plasticity ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Development Stages ◽  
Marmoset Monkey ◽  
Physical Maturation

The vocal behavior of human infants undergoes marked changes across their first year while becoming increasingly speech-like. Conversely, vocal development in nonhuman primates has been assumed to be largely predetermined and completed within the first postnatal months. Contradicting this assumption, we found a dichotomy between the development of call features and vocal sequences in marmoset monkeys, suggestive of a role for experience. While changes in call features were related to physical maturation, sequences of and transitions between calls remained flexible until adulthood. As in humans, marmoset vocal behavior developed in stages correlated with motor and social development stages. These findings are evidence for a prolonged phase of plasticity during marmoset vocal development, a crucial primate evolutionary preadaptation for the emergence of vocal learning and speech.

scholarly journals Traffic noise disrupts vocal development and suppresses immune function

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (20) ◽  
pp. eabe2405
Author(s):  
Henrik Brumm ◽  
Wolfgang Goymann ◽  
Sébastien Derégnaucourt ◽  
Nicole Geberzahn ◽  
Sue Anne Zollinger
Keyword(s):  
Immune Function ◽  
Noise Exposure ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Learning Impairments ◽  
Cognitive Deficiencies

Noise pollution has been linked to learning and language deficits in children, but the causal mechanisms connecting noise to cognitive deficiencies remain unclear because experimental models are lacking. Here, we investigated the effects of noise on birdsong learning, the primary animal model for vocal learning and speech development in humans. We found that traffic noise exposure retarded vocal development and led to learning inaccuracies. In addition, noise suppressed immune function during the sensitive learning period, indicating that it is a potent stressor for birds, which is likely to compromise their cognitive functions. Our results provide important insights into the consequences of noise pollution and pave the way for future studies using birdsong as an experimental model for the investigation of noise-induced learning impairments.

Afferent influences on cell death and birth during development of a cortical nucleus necessary for learned vocal behavior in zebra finches

Development ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
F. Johnson ◽  
S. W. Bottjer
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Afferent Input ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Neuron Death ◽  
Cortical Nucleus ◽  
Alternate Source ◽  
Cortical Regions

Forebrain nuclei that control learned vocal behavior in zebra finches are anatomically distinct and interconnected by a simple pattern of axonal pathways. In the present study, we examined afferent regulation of neuronal survival during development of the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA). RA projection neurons form the descending motor pathway of cortical vocal-control regions and are believed to be directly involved in vocal production. RA receives afferent inputs from two other cortical regions, the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (lMAN) and the higher vocal center (HVC). However, because the ingrowth of HVC afferent input is delayed, lMAN projection neurons provide the majority of afferent input to RA during early vocal learning. lMAN afferent input to RA is of particular interest because lMAN is necessary for vocal learning only during a restricted period of development. By making lesions of lMAN in male zebra finches at various stages of vocal development (20-60 days of age) and in adults (>90-days old), we asked whether the survival of RA neurons depends on lMAN afferent input, and if so whether such dependence changes over the course of vocal learning. The results showed that removal of lMAN afferent input induced the loss of over 40% of RA neurons among birds in early stages of vocal development (20 days of age). However, lMAN lesions lost the ability to induce RA neuron death among birds in later stages of vocal development (40 days of age and older). These findings indicate that many RA neurons require lMAN afferent input for their survival during early vocal learning, whereas the inability of lMAN lesions to induce RA neuron death in older birds may indicate a reduced requirement for afferent input or perhaps the delayed ingrowth of HVC afferent input (at approx. 35 days of age) provides an alternate source of afferent support. Removal of lMAN afferent input also dramatically increased the incidence of mitotic figures in RA, but only among 20-day-old birds at 2 days post-lesion. The early, acute nature of the mitotic events raises the possibility that cell division in RA may be regulated by lMAN afferent input.

scholarly journals Sex hormone influence on human infants' sound characteristics: melody in spontaneous crying

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20140095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Wermke ◽  
Johannes Hain ◽  
Klaus Oehler ◽  
Peter Wermke ◽  
Volker Hesse
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Vocal System ◽  
Functional Lateralization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hormone Influence ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain

The specific impact of sex hormones on brain development and acoustic communication is known from animal models. Sex steroid hormones secreted during early development play an essential role in hemispheric organization and the functional lateralization of the brain, e.g. language. In animals, these hormones are well-known regulators of vocal motor behaviour. Here, the association between melody properties of infants' sounds and serum concentrations of sex steroids was investigated. Spontaneous crying was sampled in 18 healthy infants, averaging two samples taken at four and eight weeks, respectively. Blood samples were taken within a day of the crying samples. The fundamental frequency contour (melody) was analysed quantitatively and the infants' frequency modulation skills expressed by a melody complexity index (MCI). These skills provide prosodic primitives for later language. A hierarchical, multiple regression approach revealed a significant, robust relationship between the individual MCIs and the unbound, bioactive fraction of oestradiol at four weeks as well as with the four-to-eight-week difference in androstenedione. No robust relationship was found between the MCI and testosterone. Our findings suggest that oestradiol may have effects on the development and function of the auditory–vocal system in human infants that are as powerful as those in vocal-learning animals.

Linking Vocal Learning to Social Reward in the Brain

2018 ◽  
pp. 308-336
Author(s):  
Samantha Carouso Peck ◽  
Michael H. Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Social Feedback ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Interconnected System ◽  
Parallel Processes ◽  
Vocal Control ◽  
And Control

The social environment plays an important role in vocal development. In songbirds, social interactions that promote vocal learning are often characterized by contingent responses of adults to early, immature vocalizations. Parallel processes have been discovered in the early speech development of human infants. Why does contingent social feedback facilitate vocal learning so effectively? Answers may be found by connecting the neural mechanisms of vocal learning and control with those involved in processing social reward. This chapter extends the idea of Newman’s social behaviour network, a tightly interconnected system of limbic areas across which social behaviour and motivation are distributed, to an avian social/vocal control network. It explores anatomical and functional overlaps between song circuitry and social-motivational circuitry, describing how circuitry linking basal ganglia with cortical areas serves to integrate social reward with vocal control and may underlie socially guided vocal learning. In species that have evolved socially guided vocal learning, a unique link has been forgedbetween social circuitry and vocal learning systems, such that learning is driven by social motivation.

scholarly journals Early life manipulations of vasopressin-family peptides alter vocal learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1859) ◽  
pp. 20171114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Baran ◽  
Samantha C. Peck ◽  
Tabitha H. Kim ◽  
Michael H. Goldstein ◽  
Elizabeth Adkins-Regan
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Arginine Vasotocin ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Typical Behaviour ◽  
Interactive Feedback

Vocal learning from social partners is crucial for the successful development of communication in a wide range of species. Social interactions organize attention and enhance motivation to learn species-typical behaviour. However, the neurobiological mechanisms connecting social motivation and vocal learning are unknown. Using zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ), a ubiquitous model for vocal learning, we show that manipulations of nonapeptide hormones in the vasopressin family (arginine vasotocin, AVT) early in development can promote or disrupt both song and social motivation. Young male zebra finches, like human infants, are socially gregarious and require interactive feedback from adult tutors to learn mature vocal forms. To investigate the role of social motivational mechanisms in song learning, in two studies, we injected hatchling males with AVT or Manning compound (MC, a nonapeptide receptor antagonist) on days 2–8 post-hatching and recorded song at maturity. In both studies, MC males produced a worse match to tutor song than controls. In study 2, which experimentally controlled for tutor and genetic factors, AVT males also learned song significantly better compared with controls. Furthermore, song similarity correlated with several measures of social motivation throughout development. These findings provide the first evidence that nonapeptides are critical to the development of vocal learning.

scholarly journals Song preferences predict the quality of vocal learning in zebra finches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Rodriguez-Saltos ◽  
Aditya Bhise ◽  
Prasanna Karur ◽  
Ramsha Nabihah Khan ◽  
Sumin Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Song Preferences

In songbirds, learning to sing is a highly social process that likely involves social reward. Here, we hypothesized that the degree to which a juvenile songbird learns a song depends on the degree to which it finds that song rewarding to hear during vocal development. We tested this hypothesis by measuring song preferences in young birds during song learning and then analyzing their adult songs. Song preferences were measured in an operant key-pressing assay. Juvenile male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) had access to two keys, each of which was associated with a higher likelihood of playing the song of their father or that of another familiar adult ("neighbor"). To minimize the effects of exposure on learning, we implemented a reinforcement schedule that allowed us to detect preferences while balancing exposure to each song. On average, the juveniles significantly preferred the father's song early during song learning, before they were themselves singing. At around post-hatch day 60, their preference shifted to the neighbor's song. At the end of the song learning period, we recorded the juveniles' songs and compared them to the father's and the neighbor's song. All of the birds copied father's song. The accuracy with which the father's song was imitated was positively correlated with the peak strength of the preference for the father's song during the sensitive period. Our results show that preference for a social stimulus, in this case a vocalization, predicted social learning during development.

scholarly journals Protophones, the precursors to speech, dominate the human infant vocal landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1836) ◽  
pp. 20200255
Author(s):  
D. Kimbrough Oller ◽  
Gordon Ramsay ◽  
Edina Bene ◽  
Helen L. Long ◽  
Ulrike Griebel
Keyword(s):  
Random Sampling ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Human Infant ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Infant Vocalization ◽  
Species Comparisons ◽  
New Evidence

Human infant vocalization is viewed as a critical foundation for vocal learning and language. All apes share distress sounds (shrieks and cries) and laughter. Another vocal type, speech-like sounds, common in human infants, is rare but not absent in other apes. These three vocal types form a basis for especially informative cross-species comparisons. To make such comparisons possible we need empirical research documenting the frequency of occurrence of all three. The present work provides a comprehensive portrayal of these three vocal types in the human infant from longitudinal research in various circumstances of recording. Recently, the predominant vocalizations of the human infant have been shown to be speech-like sounds, or ‘protophones’, including both canonical and non-canonical babbling. The research shows that protophones outnumber cries by a factor of at least five based on data from random-sampling of all-day recordings across the first year. The present work expands on the prior reports, showing the protophones vastly outnumber both cry and laughter in both all-day and laboratory recordings in various circumstances. The data provide new evidence of the predominance of protophones in the infant vocal landscape and illuminate their role in human vocal learning and the origin of language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.

scholarly journals Cross-species parallels in babbling: animals and algorithms

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1836) ◽  
pp. 20200239
Author(s):  
Sita M. ter Haar ◽  
Ahana A. Fernandez ◽  
Maya Gratier ◽  
Mirjam Knörnschild ◽  
Claartje Levelt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Developmental Pattern ◽  
Future Research ◽  
New World Monkeys ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Category Formation ◽  
Species Specific

A key feature of vocal ontogeny in a variety of taxa with extensive vocal repertoires is a developmental pattern in which vocal exploration is followed by a period of category formation that results in a mature species-specific repertoire. Vocal development preceding the adult repertoire is often called ‘babbling’, a term used to describe aspects of vocal development in species of vocal-learning birds, some marine mammals, some New World monkeys, some bats and humans. The paper summarizes the results of research on babbling in examples from five taxa and proposes a unifying definition facilitating their comparison. There are notable similarities across these species in the developmental pattern of vocalizations, suggesting that vocal production learning might require babbling. However, the current state of the literature is insufficient to confirm this suggestion. We suggest directions for future research to elucidate this issue, emphasizing the importance of (i) expanding the descriptive data and seeking species with complex mature repertoires where babbling may not occur or may occur only to a minimal extent; (ii) (quasi-)experimental research to tease apart possible mechanisms of acquisition and/or self-organizing development; and (iii) computational modelling as a methodology to test hypotheses about the origins and functions of babbling. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.

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