Infant Vocal Learning

1961 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-112
Author(s):  
Harris Winitz
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning

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.

scholarly journals Vocal Creativity in Elephant Sound Production

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 750
Author(s):  
Angela S. Stoeger ◽  
Anton Baotic ◽  
Gunnar Heilmann
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Positive Reinforcement ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Social Feedback ◽  
Nasal Tissue ◽  
Production Techniques ◽  
Production Mechanisms

How do elephants achieve their enormous vocal flexibility when communicating, imitating or creating idiosyncratic sounds? The mechanisms that underpin this trait combine motoric abilities with vocal learning processes. We demonstrate the unusual production techniques used by five African savanna elephants to create idiosyncratic sounds, which they learn to produce on cue by positive reinforcement training. The elephants generate these sounds by applying nasal tissue vibration via an ingressive airflow at the trunk tip, or by contracting defined superficial muscles at the trunk base. While the production mechanisms of the individuals performing the same sound categories are similar, they do vary in fine-tuning, revealing that each individual has its own specific sound-producing strategy. This plasticity reflects the creative and cognitive abilities associated with ‘vocal’ learning processes. The fact that these sounds were reinforced and cue-stimulated suggests that social feedback and positive reinforcement can facilitate vocal creativity and vocal learning behavior in elephants. Revealing the mechanism and the capacity for vocal learning and sound creativity is fundamental to understanding the eloquence within the elephants’ communication system. This also helps to understand the evolution of human language and of open-ended vocal systems, which build upon similar cognitive processes.

scholarly journals Adding colour-realistic video images to audio playbacks increases stimulus engagement but does not enhance vocal learning in zebra finches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Varkevisser ◽  
Ralph Simon ◽  
Ezequiel Mendoza ◽  
Martin How ◽  
Idse van Hijlkema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Frame Rate ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Video Images

AbstractBird song and human speech are learned early in life and for both cases engagement with live social tutors generally leads to better learning outcomes than passive audio-only exposure. Real-world tutor–tutee relations are normally not uni- but multimodal and observations suggest that visual cues related to sound production might enhance vocal learning. We tested this hypothesis by pairing appropriate, colour-realistic, high frame-rate videos of a singing adult male zebra finch tutor with song playbacks and presenting these stimuli to juvenile zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Juveniles exposed to song playbacks combined with video presentation of a singing bird approached the stimulus more often and spent more time close to it than juveniles exposed to audio playback only or audio playback combined with pixelated and time-reversed videos. However, higher engagement with the realistic audio–visual stimuli was not predictive of better song learning. Thus, although multimodality increased stimulus engagement and biologically relevant video content was more salient than colour and movement equivalent videos, the higher engagement with the realistic audio–visual stimuli did not lead to enhanced vocal learning. Whether the lack of three-dimensionality of a video tutor and/or the lack of meaningful social interaction make them less suitable for facilitating song learning than audio–visual exposure to a live tutor remains to be tested.

Vocal learning in Savannah sparrows: acoustic similarity to neighbours shapes song development and territorial aggression

2021 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Ian P. Thomas ◽  
Stéphanie M. Doucet ◽  
D. Ryan Norris ◽  
Amy E.M. Newman ◽  
Heather Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Territorial Aggression ◽  
Song Development ◽  
Savannah Sparrows

A neural circuit specialized for vocal learning

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison J. Doupe
Keyword(s):  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Vocal Learning

scholarly journals Birdsong Decreases Protein Levels of FoxP2, a Molecule Required for Human Speech

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 2015-2025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie E. Miller ◽  
Elizabeth Spiteri ◽  
Michael C. Condro ◽  
Ryan T. Dosumu-Johnson ◽  
Daniel H. Geschwind ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mrna Expression ◽  
Target Genes ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Motor Deficits ◽  
Mrna Levels ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Protein Levels ◽  
Area X

Cognitive and motor deficits associated with language and speech are seen in humans harboring FOXP2 mutations. The neural bases for FOXP2 mutation-related deficits are thought to reside in structural abnormalities distributed across systems important for language and motor learning including the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. In these brain regions, our prior research showed that FoxP2 mRNA expression patterns are strikingly similar between developing humans and songbirds. Within the songbird brain, this pattern persists throughout life and includes the striatal subregion, Area X, that is dedicated to song development and maintenance. The persistent mRNA expression suggests a role for FoxP2 that extends beyond the formation of vocal learning circuits to their ongoing use. Because FoxP2 is a transcription factor, a role in shaping circuits likely depends on FoxP2 protein levels which might not always parallel mRNA levels. Indeed our current study shows that FoxP2 protein, like its mRNA, is acutely downregulated in mature Area X when adult males sing with some differences. Total corticosterone levels associated with the different behavioral contexts did not vary, indicating that differences in FoxP2 levels are not likely attributable to stress. Our data, together with recent reports on FoxP2's target genes, suggest that lowered FoxP2 levels may allow for expression of genes important for circuit modification and thus vocal variability.

scholarly journals Capturing the Effects of Domestication on Vocal Learning Complexity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas O'Rourke ◽  
Pedro Tiago Martins ◽  
Rie Asano ◽  
Ryosuke O. Tachibana ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning

Vocal Learning of Japanese and Rhesus Monkeys

Behaviour ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuo Masataka ◽  
Kazuo Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Japanese Monkey ◽  
Species Difference ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Biological Mothers ◽  
Japanese Monkeys ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractForaging vocalizations given by Japanese and rhesus momkeys reared by their biological mothers differed from each other in a single parameter. Calls made by a Japanese monkey fostered by a rhesus female were dissimilar to those of conspecifics reared by their biological mothers, but similar to those of rhesus monkeys reared by their biological mothers, and the vocalizations given by rhesus monkeys fostered by Japanese monkey mothers were dissimilar to those of conspecifics reared by their biological mothers, but similar to those of Japanese monkeys reared by their biological mothers. Playback experiments revealed that both Japanese and rhesus monkeys distinguished between the calls of Japanese monkeys reared by their biological mothers and of the cross-fostered rhesus monkeys on one hand, and the vocalizations of rhesus monkeys reared by their biological mothers and of the cross-fostered Japanese monkey on the other hand. Thus, production of species-specific vocalizations was learned by each species, and it was the learned species-difference which the monkeys themselves discriminated.

scholarly journals Inhibition protects acquired song segments during vocal learning in zebra finches

Science ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 351 (6270) ◽  
pp. 267-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Vallentin ◽  
G. Kosche ◽  
D. Lipkind ◽  
M. A. Long
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Zebra Finches
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