scholarly journals If horses entrain, don’t entirely reject vocal learning: An experience-based vocal learning hypothesis

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adena Schachner
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Genetic Change ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Learning Hypothesis

Bregman and colleagues describe methods for testing whether horses entrain their actions to an auditory beat. If horses can entrain, does this necessarily imply that there is no causal relationship between vocal learning and entrainment? I propose an alternative way in which vocal learning may relate to entrainment – one that is consistent with entrainment in some vocal non-learning species. Due to engaging in the developmental process of vocal learning, there may be early experiences common to vocal learners, but rare in vocal non-learning species. It is possible that it is these experiences that are critical for entrainment – not vocal learning itself, nor related genes. These experiences may result in critical changes in neural development, leading to the development of cognitive mechanisms necessary for both vocal learning and entrainment. This hypothesis changes the causal story from one of genetic change to one of changes in experience, and from a focus on evolution to a focus on individual ontogeny. Thus, if horses can entrain, we should not immediately reject the idea of a relationship between vocal learning and entrainment: First, we should consider whether some unusual aspect of the horses’ experience effectively replicates the unusual experiences of vocal learning animals.

scholarly journals In vivo regulation of cell death by embryonic (pro)insulin and the insulin receptor during early retinal neurogenesis

Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (8) ◽  
pp. 1641-1649
Author(s):  
B. Diaz ◽  
J. Serna ◽  
F. De Pablo ◽  
E.J. de la Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Insulin Receptor ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Neuronal Cell Death ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
In Ovo ◽  
Retinal Neurogenesis

Programmed cell death is an established developmental process in the nervous system. Whereas the regulation and the developmental role of neuronal cell death have been widely demonstrated, the relevance of cell death during early neurogenesis, the cells affected and the identity of regulatory local growth factors remain poorly characterized. We have previously described specific in vivo patterns of apoptosis during early retinal neurogenesis, and that exogenous insulin acts as survival factor (Diaz, B., Pimentel, B., De Pablo, F. and de la Rosa, E. J. (1999) Eur. J. Neurosci. 11, 1624–1632). Proinsulin mRNA was found to be expressed broadly in the early embryonic chick retina, and decreased later between days 6 and 8 of embryonic development, when there was increased expression of insulin-like growth factor I mRNA, absent or very scarce at earlier stages. Consequently, we studied whether proinsulin and/or insulin ((pro)insulin) action in prevention of cell death has physiological relevance during early neural development. In ovo treatment at day 2 of embryonic development with specific antibodies against (pro)insulin or the insulin receptor induced apoptosis in the neuroretina. The distribution of apoptotic cells two days after the blockade was similar to naturally occurring cell death, as visualized by TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling. The apoptosis induced by the insulin receptor blockade preferentially affected to the Islet1/2 positive cells, that is, the differentiated retinal ganglion cells. In parallel, the insulin survival effect on cultured retinas correlated with the activation of Akt to a greater extent than with the activation of MAP kinase. These results suggest that the physiological cell death occurring in early stages of retinal development is regulated by locally produced (pro)insulin through the activation of the Akt survival pathway.

scholarly journals Operant control and call usage learning in African elephants

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1836) ◽  
pp. 20200254
Author(s):  
Angela S. Stoeger ◽  
Anton Baotic
Keyword(s):  
Low Frequency ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
African Elephants ◽  
Verbal Cues ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Call Usage ◽  
Usage Learning

Elephants exhibit remarkable vocal plasticity, and case studies reveal that individuals of African savannah ( Loxodonta africana ) and Asian ( Elephas maximus ) elephants are capable of vocal production learning. Surprisingly, however, little is known about contextual learning (usage and comprehension learning) in elephant communication. Usage learning can be demonstrated by training animals to vocalize in an arbitrary (cue-triggered) context. Here we show that adult African savannah elephants ( n = 13) can vocalize in response to verbal cues, reliably producing social call types such as the low-frequency rumble, trumpets and snorts as well as atypical sounds using various mechanisms, thus displaying compound vocal control. We further show that rumbles emitted upon trainer cues differ significantly in structure from rumbles triggered by social contexts of the same individuals ( n = 6). Every form of social learning increases the complexity of a communication system. In elephants, we only poorly understand their vocal learning abilities and the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Among other research, this calls for controlled learning experiments in which the prerequisite is operant/volitional control of vocalizations. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.

scholarly journals Bidirectional manipulation of mTOR signaling disrupts socially mediated vocal learning in juvenile songbirds

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (35) ◽  
pp. 9463-9468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Somayeh Ahmadiantehrani ◽  
Sarah E. London
Keyword(s):  
Neural Development ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Mtor Signaling ◽  
Behavioral Measure ◽  
The Relationship

Early life experiences can have long-lasting behavioral consequences because they are encoded when the brain is most malleable. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling cascade modulates experience-dependent synaptic plasticity, among other processes. mTOR has been almost exclusively examined in adult rodent learning models, but may be especially important in organizing neural circuits required for developmental acquisition of meaningful complex behaviors. It is among the most commonly implicated factors in neurodevelopmental autism spectrum disorders (ASD), characterized, in part, by distinct social and communication phenotypes. Here, we investigated mTOR in juvenile zebra finch songbirds. Much as children learn language, young male zebra finches need to interact socially with an adult tutor to learn a meaningful song. The memory of the tutor’s song structure guides the juvenile’s own song, which it uses to communicate for the rest of its life. We hypothesized that mTOR is required for juveniles to learn song. To this end, we first discovered that hearing song activates mTOR signaling in a brain area required for tutor song memorization in males old enough to copy song but not in younger males or females, who cannot sing. We then showed that both inhibition and constitutive activation of mTOR during tutor experiences significantly diminished tutor song copying. Finally, we found that constitutive mTOR activation lowered a behavioral measure of the juvenile’s social engagement during tutor experiences, mirroring the relationship in humans. These studies therefore advance understanding about the effects of experience in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders and typical neural development.

scholarly journals The Ecology of Entrainment: Foundations of Coordinated Rhythmic Movement

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Phillips-Silver ◽  
C. Athena Aktipis ◽  
Gregory A. Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Motor Coordination ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Rhythmic Movement ◽  
Learning Hypothesis ◽  
Rhythmic Behavior ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Spatiotemporal Coordination ◽  
Special Case

Entrainment has been studied in a variety of contexts including music perception, dance, verbal communication, and motor coordination more generally. Here we seek to provide a unifying framework that incorporates the key aspects of entrainment as it has been studied in these varying domains. We propose that there are a number of types of entrainment that build upon pre-existing adaptations that allow organisms to perceive stimuli as rhythmic, to produce periodic stimuli, and to integrate the two using sensory feedback. We suggest that social entrainment is a special case of spatiotemporal coordination where the rhythmic signal originates from another individual. We use this framework to understand the function and evolutionary basis for coordinated rhythmic movement and to explore questions about the nature of entrainment in music and dance. The framework of entrainment presented here has a number of implications for the vocal learning hypothesis and other proposals for the evolution of coordinated rhythmic behavior across an array of species.

scholarly journals Vocal learning as a preadaptation for the evolution of human beat perception and synchronization

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1835) ◽  
pp. 20200326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aniruddh D. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Recent Progress ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Learning Hypothesis ◽  
The Brain

The human capacity to synchronize movements to an auditory beat is central to musical behaviour and to debates over the evolution of human musicality. Have humans evolved any neural specializations for music processing, or does music rely entirely on brain circuits that evolved for other reasons? The vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization hypothesis proposes that our ability to move in time with an auditory beat in a precise, predictive and tempo-flexible manner originated in the neural circuitry for complex vocal learning. In the 15 years since the hypothesis was proposed a variety of studies have supported it. However, one study has provided a significant challenge to the hypothesis. Furthermore, it is increasingly clear that vocal learning is not a binary trait animals have or lack, but varies more continuously across species. In the light of these developments and of recent progress in the neurobiology of beat processing and of vocal learning, the current paper revises the vocal learning hypothesis. It argues that an advanced form of vocal learning acts as a preadaptation for sporadic beat perception and synchronization (BPS), providing intrinsic rewards for predicting the temporal structure of complex acoustic sequences. It further proposes that in humans, mechanisms of gene-culture coevolution transformed this preadaptation into a genuine neural adaptation for sustained BPS. The larger significance of this proposal is that it outlines a hypothesis of cognitive gene-culture coevolution which makes testable predictions for neuroscience, cross-species studies and genetics. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.

Development and self-regulatory structures of the mind

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dante Cicchetti ◽  
Don Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Nonlinear Dynamics ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Chaotic Dynamics ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
The Mind

AbstractFrom their early roots in embryology, parallels are drawn between the major psychological and biological foci of organismic theories. Neural plasticity and concepts of causality in developmental systems are discussed. Because the nature of the developmental process necessitates addressing the nonlinear dynamics of complex systems, it is theorized that causal explanations in neural development, just as is the case with psychological processes, should emphasize the individual's active strivings for self-organization as the major determinant of ontogenesis. Whether or not they cohere to form an integrated self, it is hypothesized that the homeostatic, self-regulatory structures of the mind are the major stabilities in the chaotic dynamics of psychological and neural development.

scholarly journals A method for testing synchronization to a musical beat in domestic horses (Equus ferus caballus)

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micah R. Bregman ◽  
John R. Iversen ◽  
David Lichman ◽  
Meredith Reinhart ◽  
Aniruddh D. Patel
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Musical Rhythm ◽  
Learning Hypothesis ◽  
Scientific Experiments ◽  
Domestic Horses ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Equus Ferus Caballus

According to the “vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization hypothesis” (Patel, 2006), only species capable of complex vocal learning, such as humans and parrots, have the capacity to synchronize their movements to a musical beat.  While empirical research to date on a few species (e.g., parrots and monkeys) has supported this hypothesis, many species remain to be examined. Domestic horses are particularly important to study, as they are vocal non-learners who are occasionally reported to move in synchrony with a musical beat, based on informal observations. If these reports are substantiated by scientific experiments, this would refute the vocal learning hypothesis and provide a new species for the comparative study of musical rhythm.  Here we present a new method for testing whether horses can synchronize their trotting to a musical beat, including an illustration of data analysis based on data collected from one horse.  

Conceptual metaphors and performativity in the Sunshine Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-294
Author(s):  
Iksoo Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Real World ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Conceptual Metaphors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Real ◽  
Political Policy ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Relationship Of

Abstract This paper explores the roles of the cognitive mechanisms of conceptual metaphor and performativity in political policy by conducting a case study on the South Korean government’s Sunshine Policy toward North Korea from 1998 to 2008. This study contends that the policy is metaphorically motivated by an Aesop’s fable, The sun and the wind, a narrative whose entailments have significant implications for the policy. It also systematically accounts for the policy’s performative characteristic, focusing on the fact that the policy makers intended to map the causal relationship of the narrative onto a real-world relationship, even though the real-world causal relationship must be based on the unknown result of the policy. Lastly, this paper discusses theoretical implications of the performativity entangled with the conceptual metaphors in the policy; the real-world concept is usually what limits the mapping possibilities, but in this case, the narrative structure of the fable determines the construal.

scholarly journals How vocal temporal parameters develop: a comparative study between humans and songbirds, two distantly related vocal learners

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miki Takahasi ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya ◽  
Reiko Mazuka
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Process ◽  
Developmental Change ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Respiratory Control ◽  
Motor Patterns ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Infant Cry ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Temporal Parameters ◽  
Species Specific

Abstract Human infants acquire motor patterns for speech during the first several years of their lives. Sequential vocalizations such as human speech are complex behaviors, and the ability to learn new vocalizations is limited to only a few animal species. Vocalizations are generated through the coordination of three types of organs: namely, vocal, respiratory, and articulatory organs. Moreover, sophisticated temporal respiratory control might be necessary for sequential vocalization involving human speech. However, it remains unknown how coordination develops in human infants and if this developmental process is shared with other vocal learners. To answer these questions, we analyzed temporal parameters of sequential vocalizations during the first year in human infants and compared these developmental changes to song development in the Bengalese finch, another vocal learner. In human infants, early cry was also analyzed as an innate sequential vocalization. The following three temporal parameters of sequential vocalizations were measured: note duration (ND), inter-onset interval, and inter-note interval (INI). The results showed that both human infants and Bengalese finches had longer INIs than ND in the early phase. Gradually, the INI and ND converged to a similar range throughout development. While ND increased until 6 months of age in infants, the INI decreased up to 60 days posthatching in finches. Regarding infant cry, ND and INI were within similar ranges, but the INI was more stable in length than ND. In sequential vocalizations, temporal parameters developed early with subsequent articulatory stabilization in both vocal learners. However, this developmental change was accomplished in a species-specific manner. These findings could provide important insights into our understanding of the evolution of vocal learning.

The bottleneck may be the solution, not the problem

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnon Lotem ◽  
Oren Kolodny ◽  
Joseph Y. Halpern ◽  
Luca Onnis ◽  
Shimon Edelman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Biological Trait ◽  
Memory Bottleneck

AbstractAs a highly consequential biological trait, a memory “bottleneck” cannot escape selection pressures. It must therefore co-evolve with other cognitive mechanisms rather than act as an independent constraint. Recent theory and an implemented model of language acquisition suggest that a limit on working memory may evolve to help learning. Furthermore, it need not hamper the use of language for communication.

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