AUDITORY EXPERIENCE DOES NOT SHAPE SEXUAL PREFERENCES FOR SONGS IN FEMALE NORTHERN CARDINALS

Behaviour ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayako Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Memory Trace ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Auditory Experience ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Northern Cardinals

AbstractBird song is typically used by males to attract females. As a consequence of the vocal learning process, the acoustic morphology of male songs shows marked geographic variation. Whether females use variation in male songs to choose mates has been controversial (reviewed by Catchpole & Slater, 1995). In some species, the song types that females produce when treated hormonally have been considered to be the song types they prefer in the context of mate choice. To examine this notion, I investigated the song type preferences of female northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) using a more direct measure, copulation solicitation display. Unlike females of many other species of songbirds in the Temperate zone, female cardinals naturally develop songs by imitating adults just as males do, allowing direct identification of when and what song types are memorized by females for vocal production. I sought to determine if the memory trace formed for vocal performance is identical with the memory trace that guides song type preference in a sexual context, and whether females truly form any song type preference based on auditory experience during the first year of their lives. To address these questions, audio-video playback experiments were carried out on captive-raised adult cardinals whose complete auditory history was known. The results showed that female cardinals did not come to prefer any song type based on experience; they responded equally to all conspecific song types. Thus, memory formed for vocal production in females is not equal to song type preferred in sexual context. The results suggest that variation in song types is not important for mate choice in cardinals.

scholarly journals Open-ended song learning in a hummingbird

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 20130625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Araya-Salas ◽  
Timothy Wright
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
First Year ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
First Year Of Life ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Avian Group

Vocal learning in birds is typically restricted to a sensitive period early in life, with the few exceptions reported in songbirds and parrots. Here, we present evidence of open-ended vocal learning in a hummingbird, the third avian group with vocal learning. We studied vocalizations at four leks of the long-billed hermit Phaethornis longirostris during a four-year period. Individuals produce a single song repertoire, although several song-types can coexist at a single lek. We found that nine of 49 birds recorded on multiple days (18%) changed their song-type between consecutive recordings. Three of these birds replaced song-types twice. Moreover, the earliest estimated age when song replacement occurred ranged from 186 to 547 days (mean = 307 days) and all nine birds who replaced song-types produced a crystallized song before replacement. The findings indicate that song-type replacement is distinct from an initial early learning sensitive period. As half of lekking males do not survive past the first year of life in this species, song learning may well extend throughout the lifespan. This behaviour would be convergent to vocal learning programmes found in parrots and songbirds.

scholarly journals Towards a new taxonomy of primate vocal production learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1789) ◽  
pp. 20190045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Fischer ◽  
Kurt Hammerschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Evolution Of Speech ◽  
Ontogenetic Trajectory ◽  
Auditory Experience ◽  
Species Specific

The extent to which vocal learning can be found in nonhuman primates is key to reconstructing the evolution of speech. Regarding the adjustment of vocal output in relation to auditory experience (vocal production learning in the narrow sense), effects on the ontogenetic trajectory of vocal development as well as adjustment to group-specific call features have been found. Yet, a comparison of the vocalizations of different primate genera revealed striking similarities in the structure of calls and repertoires in different species of the same genus, indicating that the structure of nonhuman primate vocalizations is highly conserved. Thus, modifications in relation to experience only appear to be possible within relatively tight species-specific constraints. By contrast, comprehension learning may be extremely rapid and open-ended. In conjunction, these findings corroborate the idea of an ancestral independence of vocal production and auditory comprehension learning. To overcome the futile debate about whether or not vocal production learning can be found in nonhuman primates, we suggest putting the focus on the different mechanisms that may mediate the adjustment of vocal output in response to experience; these mechanisms may include auditory facilitation and learning from success. This article is part of the theme issue ‘What can animal communication teach us about human language?’

scholarly journals Experience- and sex-dependent intrinsic plasticity in the zebra finch auditory cortex during song memorization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew N Chen ◽  
C Daniel Meliza
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Noisy Environment ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Cortical Level ◽  
Auditory Experience ◽  
Intrinsic Plasticity

AbstractEarly auditory experience is critical to the development of vocal communication. Zebra finches and other songbirds have a sensitive period when young birds memorize a song to use as a model for vocal production. We found that intrinsic spiking dynamics change dramatically during this period in the caudal mesopallium, a cortical-level auditory area. Specifically, the proportion of neurons that only fire transiently at the onset of intracellular current injections increases, along with Kv1.1, a channel that facilitates transient spiking. Plasticity is greater in males and requires exposure to a complex, noisy environment. These observations indicate that intrinsic dynamics are modulated in response to the acoustic environment to support robust auditory processing during a critical phase of vocal learning.

Songs and Sexual Responses of Female White-Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia Leucophrys) From a Mixed-Dialect Population

Behaviour ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 173-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ross Lein ◽  
Glen Chilton
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Genetic Isolation ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Song Dialect ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Song Playback

AbstractSome researchers have suggested that female songbirds mate with males singing local song types in preference to males singing dialects from more distant populations. Such behaviour might promote genetic isolation among dialect populations. We studied captive female white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) from a population in which two song types were equally common, as a model for behaviour at dialect boundaries. Subjects were captured as adults, and the song type of the mate of each was known. Treated with estradiol, females gave sexual displays in response to playback of conspecific male song. As a group, they solicited no more strongly to either local song type, suggesting that males singing either local song type should be able to attract mates. Individuals solicited no more strongly to their mate's song type than to the other local song type. This suggests that strength of response of captive females to song playback may not accurately reflect the behaviour of free-living individuals. Subjects were also treated with testosterone to induce singing. Individuals sang their mates' song type more often than expected by chance. Given that female white-crowned sparrows in this population do not consistently choose mates of one song type, we develop the argument that females learn, for performance, the song type of their first mate. However, the type of song learned for performance appears unlikely to restrict their subsequent mate choice decisions. Our results suggest that female white-crowned sparrows do not base their choice of mates on dialectal variation in male song, and that it is unlikely that mate choice decisions based on song dialect promote the genetic isolation of dialect populations.

Vocal production and novel word learning in the first year

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 606-616
Author(s):  
Marinella MAJORANO ◽  
Tamara BASTIANELLO ◽  
Marika MORELLI ◽  
Manuela LAVELLI ◽  
Marilyn M. VIHMAN
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Only Children ◽  
Preferential Looking ◽  
Novel Word Learning ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractPrevious studies have demonstrated an effect of early vocal production on infants’ speech processing and later vocabulary. This study focuses on the relationship between vocal production and new word learning. Thirty monolingual Italian-learning infants were recorded at about 11 months, to establish the extent of their consonant production. In parallel, the infants were trained on novel word–object pairs, two consisting of early learned consonants (ELC), two consisting of late learned consonants (LLC). Word learning was assessed through Preferential Looking. The results suggest that vocal production supports word learning: Only children with higher, consistent consonant production attended more to the trained ELC images.

scholarly journals The Duet Code of the Female Black-Bellied Wren

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Logue
Keyword(s):  
Animal Communication ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Female Response ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Vocal Responses ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Behavioral Mechanisms ◽  
Song Types

Abstract In many duet-singing songbirds, paired birds combine their song types nonrandomly to form duet songs. Several different behavioral mechanisms could generate nonrandom song type associations in duets. I tested female Black-bellied Wrens (Thryothorus fasciatoventris) for one such mechanism: adherence to a set of rules linking female response songs to male stimulus songs. I call this set of rules a “duet code.” Duets of free-living Black-bellied Wrens were recorded in 2001 and 2002. In 2003 I returned to the same territories and played the male song types from the recorded duets. Females answered male song stimuli as if duetting with the playback speaker. Although the known repertoires of females averaged 8.4 song types, each female sang only a single song type in response to each male song type. Random answering could not account for this pattern, supporting the hypothesis that females abide by duet codes. Females that were still paired with their mates from 2001–2002 answered 100% of their mate's songs with the same song types they had used previously, demonstrating that codes are stable over time. In contrast, females that were new to a territory answered an average of only 18% of their mate's song types with the same song type as the previous female, indicating that duet codes are individually distinctive. Duet participation by female Black-bellied Wrens represents a special kind of animal communication, in which discrete vocal signals consistently elicit discrete vocal responses according to an individually distinctive set of rules.

scholarly journals Vocal production learning in the pale spear-nosed bat, Phyllostomus discolor

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 20190928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella Z. Lattenkamp ◽  
Sonja C. Vernes ◽  
Lutz Wiegrebe
Keyword(s):  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Acoustic Signals ◽  
Auditory Target ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Learning Capacity ◽  
Directional Change ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Phyllostomus Discolor

Vocal production learning (VPL), or the ability to modify vocalizations through the imitation of sounds, is a rare trait in the animal kingdom. While humans are exceptional vocal learners, few other mammalian species share this trait. Owing to their singular ecology and lifestyle, bats are highly specialized for the precise emission and reception of acoustic signals. This specialization makes them ideal candidates for the study of vocal learning, and several bat species have previously shown evidence supportive of vocal learning. Here we use a sophisticated automated set-up and a contingency training paradigm to explore the vocal learning capacity of pale spear-nosed bats. We show that these bats are capable of directional change of the fundamental frequency of their calls according to an auditory target. With this study, we further highlight the importance of bats for the study of vocal learning and provide evidence for the VPL capacity of the pale spear-nosed bat.

scholarly journals miR-9 regulates basal ganglia-dependent developmental vocal learning and adult vocal performance in songbirds

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhimin Shi ◽  
Zoe Piccus ◽  
Xiaofang Zhang ◽  
Huidi Yang ◽  
Hannah Jarrell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Behavioral Deficits ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Dopamine Signaling ◽  
Area X

miR-9 is an evolutionarily conserved miRNA that is abundantly expressed in Area X, a basal ganglia nucleus required for vocal learning in songbirds. Here, we report that overexpression of miR-9 in Area X of juvenile zebra finches impairs developmental vocal learning, resulting in a song with syllable omission, reduced similarity to the tutor song, and altered acoustic features. miR-9 overexpression in juveniles also leads to more variable song performance in adulthood, and abolishes social context-dependent modulation of song variability. We further show that these behavioral deficits are accompanied by downregulation of FoxP1 and FoxP2, genes that are known to be associated with language impairments, as well as by disruption of dopamine signaling and widespread changes in the expression of genes that are important in circuit development and functions. These findings demonstrate a vital role for miR-9 in basal ganglia function and vocal communication, suggesting that dysregulation of miR-9 in humans may contribute to language impairments and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

scholarly journals Deceptive vocal duets and multimodal display in a songbird

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1864) ◽  
pp. 20171774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Ręk ◽  
Robert D. Magrath
Keyword(s):  
Group Living ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Reliable Information ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Visual Displays ◽  
Visual Component ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Multimodal Signalling ◽  
Australian Magpie ◽  
Vocal Duets

Many group-living animals cooperatively signal to defend resources, but what stops deceptive signalling to competitors about coalition strength? Cooperative-signalling species include mated pairs of birds that sing duets to defend their territory. Individuals of these species sometimes sing ‘pseudo-duets’ by mimicking their partner's contribution, but it is unknown if these songs are deceptive, or why duets are normally reliable. We studied pseudo-duets in Australian magpie-larks, Grallina cyanoleuca , and tested whether multimodal signalling constrains deception. Magpie-larks give antiphonal duets coordinated with a visual display, with each sex typically choosing a different song type within the duet. Individuals produced pseudo-duets almost exclusively during nesting when partners were apart, but the two song types were used in sequence rather than antiphonally. Strikingly, birds hid and gave no visual displays, implying deceptive suppression of information. Acoustic playbacks showed that pseudo-duets provoked the same response from residents as true duets, regardless of whether they were sequential or antiphonal, and stronger response than that to true duets consisting of a single song type. By contrast, experiments with robot models showed that songs accompanied by movements of two birds prompted stronger responses than songs accompanied by movements of one bird, irrespective of the number of song types or singers. We conclude that magpie-larks used deceptive pseudo-duets when partners were apart, and suppressed the visual display to maintain the subterfuge. We suggest that the visual component of many species' duets provides the most reliable information about the number of signallers and may have evolved to maintain honesty in duet communication.

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