The Experts below are selected from a list of 13548 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jacques Balthazart - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
development of perineuronal nets during ontogeny correlates with sensorimotor Vocal Learning in canaries
eNeuro, 2020Co-Authors: Gilles Cornez, Gregory F Ball, Clementine Collignon, Wendt Muller, Charlotte A Cornil, Jacques BalthazartAbstract:Songbirds are a powerful model to study Vocal Learning given that aspects of the underlying behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms are analogous in many ways to mechanisms involved in speech Learning. Perineuronal nets (PNNs) represent one of the mechanisms controlling the closing of sensitive periods for Vocal Learning in the songbird brain. In zebra finches, PNN develop around parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons in selected song control nuclei during ontogeny and their development is delayed if juveniles are deprived of a tutor. However, song Learning in zebra finches takes place during a relatively short period of development, and it is difficult to determine whether PNN development correlates with the end of the sensory or the sensorimotor Learning period. Canaries have a longer period of sensorimotor Vocal Learning, spanning over their first year of life so that it should be easier to test whether PNN development correlates with the end of sensory or sensorimotor Vocal Learning. Here, we quantified PNN around PV-interneurons in the brain of male canaries from hatching until the first breeding season and analyzed in parallel the development of their song. PNN development around PV-interneurons specifically took place and their number reached its maximum around the end of the sensorimotor Learning stage, well after the end of sensory Vocal Learning, and correlated with song development. This suggests that PNN are specifically involved in the termination of the sensitive period for sensorimotor Vocal Learning.
-
seasonal changes of perineuronal nets and song Learning in adult canaries serinus canaria
Behavioural Brain Research, 2020Co-Authors: Gilles Cornez, Gregory F Ball, Clementine Collignon, Wendt Muller, Charlotte A Cornil, Jacques BalthazartAbstract:Abstract Songbirds learn their song during a sensitive period of development associated with enhanced neural plasticity. In addition, in open-ended learners such as canaries, a sensitive period for sensorimotor Vocal Learning reopens each year in the fall and leads to song modifications between successive breeding seasons. The variability observed in song production across seasons in adult canaries correlates with seasonal fluctuations of testosterone concentrations and with morphological changes in nuclei of the song control system (SCS). The sensitive periods for song Learning during ontogeny and then again in adulthood could be controlled by the development of perineuronal nets (PNN) around parvalbumin-expressing interneurones (PV) which limits Learning-induced neuroplasticity. However, this relationship has never been investigated in the context of adult Vocal Learning in adult songbirds. Here we explored PNN and PV expression in the SCS of adult male Fife Fancy canaries in relation to the seasonal variations of their singing behaviour. We found a clear pattern of seasonal variation in testosterone concentrations and song production. Furthermore, PNN expression was significantly higher in two specific song control nuclei, the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) and the Area X of the basal ganglia, during the breeding season and during the later stages of sensorimotor song development compared to birds in an earlier stage of sensorimotor development during the fall. These data provide the first evidence that changes in PNN expression could represent a mechanism regulating the closing-reopening of sensitive periods for Vocal Learning across seasons in adult songbirds.
Kazuhiro Wada - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Vocal practice regulates singing activity–dependent genes underlying age-independent Vocal Learning in songbirds
2018Co-Authors: Shin Hayase, Wanchun Liu, Haruhito Horita, Masahiko Kobayashi, Hongdi Wang, Eri Ohgushi, Chihiro Mori, Katsuhiko Mineta, Kazuhiro WadaAbstract:The development of highly complex Vocal skill, like human language and bird songs, is underlain by Learning. Vocal Learning, even when occurring in adulthood, is thought to largely depend on a sensitive/critical period during postnatal development, and learned Vocal patterns emerge gradually as the long-term consequence of Vocal practice during this critical period. In this scenario, it is presumed that the effect of Vocal practice is thus mainly limited by the intrinsic timing of age-dependent maturation factors that close the critical period and reduce neural plasticity. However, an alternative, as-yet untested hypothesis is that Vocal practice itself, independently of age, regulates Vocal Learning plasticity. Here, we explicitly discriminate between the influences of age and Vocal practice using a songbird model system. We prevented zebra finches from singing during the critical period of sensorimotor Learning by reversible postural manipulation. This enabled to us to separate lifelong Vocal experience from the effects of age. The singing-prevented birds produced juvenile-like immature song and retained sufficient ability to acquire a tutored song even at adulthood when allowed to sing freely. Genome-wide gene expression network analysis revealed that this adult Vocal plasticity was accompanied by an intense induction of singing activity-dependent genes, similar to that observed in juvenile birds, rather than of age-dependent genes. The transcriptional changes of activity-dependent genes occurred in the Vocal motor robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) projection neurons that play a critical role in the production of song phonology. These gene expression changes were accompanied by neuroanatomical changes: dendritic spine pruning in RA projection neurons. These results show that self-motivated practice itself changes the expression dynamics of activity-dependent genes associated with Vocal Learning plasticity and that this process is not tightly linked to age-dependent maturational factors.
-
specialized motor driven dusp1 expression in the song systems of multiple lineages of Vocal Learning birds
PLOS ONE, 2012Co-Authors: Haruhito Horita, Wanchun Liu, Masahiko Kobayashi, Kotaro Oka, Erich D Jarvis, Kazuhiro WadaAbstract:Mechanisms for the evolution of convergent behavioral traits are largely unknown. Vocal Learning is one such trait that evolved multiple times and is necessary in humans for the acquisition of spoken language. Among birds, Vocal Learning is evolved in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds. Each time similar forebrain song nuclei specialized for Vocal Learning and production have evolved. This finding led to the hypothesis that the behavioral and neuroanatomical convergences for Vocal Learning could be associated with molecular convergence. We previously found that the neural activity-induced gene dual specificity phosphatase 1 (dusp1) was up-regulated in non-Vocal circuits, specifically in sensory-input neurons of the thalamus and telencephalon; however, dusp1 was not up-regulated in higher order sensory neurons or motor circuits. Here we show that song motor nuclei are an exception to this pattern. The song nuclei of species from all known Vocal Learning avian lineages showed motor-driven up-regulation of dusp1 expression induced by singing. There was no detectable motor-driven dusp1 expression throughout the rest of the forebrain after non-Vocal motor performance. This pattern contrasts with expression of the commonly studied activity-induced gene egr1, which shows motor-driven expression in song nuclei induced by singing, but also motor-driven expression in adjacent brain regions after non-Vocal motor behaviors. In the Vocal non-Learning avian species, we found no detectable Vocalizing-driven dusp1 expression in the forebrain. These findings suggest that independent evolutions of neural systems for Vocal Learning were accompanied by selection for specialized motor-driven expression of the dusp1 gene in those circuits. This specialized expression of dusp1 could potentially lead to differential regulation of dusp1-modulated molecular cascades in Vocal Learning circuits.
-
molecular mapping of movement associated areas in the avian brain a motor theory for Vocal Learning origin
PLOS ONE, 2008Co-Authors: Gesa Feenders, Erina Hara, Kazuhiro Wada, Haruhito Horita, Miriam Liedvogel, Miriam V Rivas, Manuela Zapka, Henrik Mouritsen, Erich D JarvisAbstract:Vocal Learning is a critical behavioral substrate for spoken human language. It is a rare trait found in three distantly related groups of birds-songbirds, hummingbirds, and parrots. These avian groups have remarkably similar systems of cerebral Vocal nuclei for the control of learned Vocalizations that are not found in their more closely related Vocal non-Learning relatives. These findings led to the hypothesis that brain pathways for Vocal Learning in different groups evolved independently from a common ancestor but under pre-existing constraints. Here, we suggest one constraint, a pre-existing system for movement control. Using behavioral molecular mapping, we discovered that in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds, all cerebral Vocal Learning nuclei are adjacent to discrete brain areas active during limb and body movements. Similar to the relationships between Vocal nuclei activation and singing, activation in the adjacent areas correlated with the amount of movement performed and was independent of auditory and visual input. These same movement-associated brain areas were also present in female songbirds that do not learn Vocalizations and have atrophied cerebral Vocal nuclei, and in ring doves that are Vocal non-learners and do not have cerebral Vocal nuclei. A compilation of previous neural tracing experiments in songbirds suggests that the movement-associated areas are connected in a network that is in parallel with the adjacent Vocal Learning system. This study is the first global mapping that we are aware for movement-associated areas of the avian cerebrum and it indicates that brain systems that control Vocal Learning in distantly related birds are directly adjacent to brain systems involved in movement control. Based upon these findings, we propose a motor theory for the origin of Vocal Learning, this being that the brain areas specialized for Vocal Learning in Vocal learners evolved as a specialization of a pre-existing motor pathway that controls movement.
-
FoxP2 expression in avian Vocal learners and non-learners.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2004Co-Authors: Sebastian Haesler, Edward E Morrisey, Kazuhiro Wada, A. Nshdejan, Thierry Lints, Eric D. Jarvis, Constance ScharffAbstract:Most vertebrates communicate acoustically, but few, among them humans, dolphins and whales, bats, and three orders of birds, learn this trait. FOXP2 is the first gene linked to human speech and has been the target of positive selection during recent primate evolution. To test whether the expression pattern of FOXP2 is consistent with a role in learned Vocal communication, we cloned zebra finch FoxP2 and its close relative FoxP1 and compared mRNA and protein distribution in developing and adult brains of a variety of avian Vocal learners and non-learners, and a crocodile. We found that the protein sequence of zebra finch FoxP2 is 98% identical with mouse and human FOXP2. In the avian and crocodilian forebrain, FoxP2 was expressed predominantly in the striatum, a basal ganglia brain region affected in patients with FOXP2 mutations. Strikingly, in zebra finches, the striatal nucleus Area X, necessary for Vocal Learning, expressed more FoxP2 than the surrounding tissue at post-hatch days 35 and 50, when Vocal Learning occurs. In adult canaries, FoxP2 expression in Area X differed seasonally; more FoxP2 expression was associated with times when song becomes unstable. In adult chickadees, strawberry finches, song sparrows, and Bengalese finches, Area X expressed FoxP2 to different degrees. Non-telencephalic regions in both Vocal Learning and non-Learning birds, and in crocodiles, were less variable in expression and comparable with regions that express FOXP2 in human and rodent brains. We conclude that differential expression of FoxP2 in avian Vocal learners might be associated with Vocal plasticity.
Stephanie A. White - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
foxp2 isoforms delineate spatiotemporal transcriptional networks for Vocal Learning in the zebra finch
eLife, 2018Co-Authors: Zachary D Burkett, Jonathan B Heston, Todd Kimball, Caitlin M Aamodt, Austin T Hilliard, Xinshu Xiao, Stephanie A. WhiteAbstract:Songbirds, much like in humans, have a critical period in youth when they are best at Learning Vocal communication skills. In birds, this is when they learn a song they will use later in life as a courtship song. In humans, this is when language skills are most easily learned. After this critical period ends, it is much harder for people to learn languages, and for certain bird species to learn their song. When birds sing every morning, the activity of a gene called FoxP2 drops, which causes a coordinated change in the activity of thousands of other genes. It is suspected that FoxP2 – and the changes it causes – could be a part of the molecular basis for Vocal Learning. FoxP2 is also known to play a role in speech in humans, and both birds and humans have a long and a short version of this gene. Previous research has shown that when the long version of the gene was altered so its activity would no longer decrease when birds were singing, the birds failed to learn their song. Moreover, humans with a mutation in the long version have problems with their speech. However, until now, it was not known if modifications to the short version had the same effect. Burkett et al. investigated whether there was a noticeable pattern in the effects of FoxP2 before and after the critical period in a songbird. The analysis found that during the critical period, a set of genes changed together as young birds learned to sing. This particular pattern disappeared as the birds aged and the critical period ended. Burkett et al. confirmed that when birds had the long version of FoxP2 altered, they were less able to learn. However, changing the short version of FoxP2 had little effect on Learning but led to changes in the birds’ song. The genetic pathways identified in the experiments are known to be present in many different species, including humans. Related pathways have also been found to play a role in non-Vocal Learning in organisms as distantly related as rats and snails. This suggests that they could be acting as a blueprint for Learning new skills. Few treatments for language impairments have been developed so far due to poor understanding of the molecular basis for Vocal communication. The findings of this study could help to create new treatments for speech problems in people, such as children with autism or people with mutated versions of FoxP2.
-
differential foxp2 and foxp1 expression in a Vocal Learning nucleus of the developing budgerigar
Developmental Neurobiology, 2015Co-Authors: Osceola Whitney, Stephanie A. White, Tawni Voyles, Erina Hara, Qianqian Chen, Timothy F WrightAbstract:The forkhead domain FOXP2 and FOXP1 transcription factors are implicated in several cognitive disorders with language deficits, notably autism, and thus play a central role in learned Vocal motor behavior in humans. Although a similar role for FoxP2 and FoxP1 is proposed for other vertebrate species, including songbirds, the neurodevelopmental expression of these genes are unknown in a species with lifelong Vocal Learning abilities. Like humans, budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) learn new Vocalizations throughout their entire lifetime. Like songbirds, budgerigars have distinct brain nuclei for Vocal Learning, which include the magnocellular nucleus of the medial striatum (MMSt), a basal ganglia region that is considered developmentally and functionally analogous to Area X in songbirds. Here, we used in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to investigate FoxP2 and FoxP1 expression in the MMSt of juvenile and adult budgerigars. We found FoxP2 mRNA and protein expression levels in the MMSt that were lower than the surrounding striatum throughout development and adulthood. In contrast, FoxP1 mRNA and protein had an elevated MMSt/striatum expression ratio as birds matured, regardless of their sex. These results show that life-long Vocal plasticity in budgerigars is associated with persistent low-level FoxP2 expression in the budgerigar MMSt, and suggests the possibility that FoxP1 plays an organizational role in the neurodevelopment of Vocal motor circuitry. Thus, developmental regulation of the FoxP2 and FoxP1 genes in the basal ganglia appears essential for Vocal mimicry in a range of species that possess this relatively rare trait.
-
neural foxp2 and foxp1 expression in the budgerigar an avian species with adult Vocal Learning
Behavioural Brain Research, 2015Co-Authors: Erina Hara, Stephanie A. White, Osceola Whitney, Qianqian Chen, Jemima M Perez, Timothy F WrightAbstract:Vocal Learning underlies acquisition of both language in humans and Vocal signals in some avian taxa. These bird groups and humans exhibit convergent developmental phases and associated brain pathways for Vocal communication. The transcription factor FoxP2 plays critical roles in Vocal Learning in humans and songbirds. Another member of the forkhead box gene family, FoxP1 also shows high expression in brain areas involved in Vocal Learning and production. Here, we investigate FoxP2 and FoxP1 mRNA and protein in adult male budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), a parrot species that exhibits Vocal Learning as both juveniles and adults. To examine these molecules in adult Vocal learners, we compared their expression patterns in the budgerigar striatal nucleus involved in Vocal Learning, magnocellular nucleus of the medial striatum (MMSt), across birds with different Vocal states, such as Vocalizing to a female (directed), Vocalizing alone (undirected), and non-Vocalizing. We found that both FoxP2 mRNA and protein expressions were consistently lower in MMSt than in the adjacent striatum regardless of the Vocal states, whereas previous work has shown that songbirds exhibit down-regulation in the homologous region, Area X, only after singing alone. In contrast, FoxP1 levels were high in MMSt compared to the adjacent striatum in all groups. Taken together these results strengthen the general hypothesis that FoxP2 and FoxP1 have specialized expression in Vocal nuclei across a range of taxa, and suggest that the adult Vocal plasticity seen in budgerigars may be a product of persistent down-regulation of FoxP2 in MMSt.
-
behavior linked foxp2 regulation enables zebra finch Vocal Learning
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2015Co-Authors: Jonathan B Heston, Stephanie A. WhiteAbstract:Mutations in the FOXP2 transcription factor cause an inherited speech and language disorder, but how FoxP2 contributes to Learning of these Vocal communication signals remains unclear. FoxP2 is enriched in corticostriatal circuits of both human and songbird brains. Experimental knockdown of this enrichment in song control neurons of the zebra finch basal ganglia impairs tutor song imitation, indicating that adequate FoxP2 levels are necessary for normal Vocal Learning. In unmanipulated birds, Vocal practice acutely downregulates FoxP2, leading to increased Vocal variability and dynamic regulation of FoxP2 target genes. To determine whether this behavioral regulation is important for song Learning, here, we used viral-driven overexpression of FoxP2 to counteract its downregulation. This manipulation disrupted the acute effects of song practice on Vocal variability and caused inaccurate song imitation. Together, these findings indicate that dynamic behavior-linked regulation of FoxP2, rather than absolute levels, is critical for Vocal Learning.
-
role of autism susceptibility gene cntnap2 in neural circuitry for Vocal communication
2012Co-Authors: Stephanie A. WhiteAbstract:Abstract : Variants of the contactin associated protein-like 2 (Cntnap2) gene are risk factors for language-related disorders including autism spectrum disorder, specific language impairment, and stuttering. Songbirds are useful models for study of human speech disorders due to their shared capacity for Vocal Learning, which relies on similar cortico-basal ganglia circuitry and genetic factors. We investigated Cntnap2 protein expression in the brain of the zebra finch, a songbird species in which males, but not females, learn their courtship songs. We hypothesized that Cntnap2 has overlapping functions in Vocal Learning species, and expected to find protein expression in song-related areas of the zebra finch brain. We found that Cntnap2 protein is enriched in several song control regions relative to surrounding tissues, particularly within the adult male, but not female, robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), a cortical song control region analogous to human layer 5 primary motor cortex. The onset of this sexually dimorphic expression coincides with the onset of sensorimotor Learning in developing males. Enrichment in male RA appears due to expression in projection neurons within the nucleus, as well as to additional expression in nerve terminals of cortical projections to RA from the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the nidopallium. Cntnap2 protein expression in zebra finch brain supports the hypothesis that this molecule affects neural connectivity critical for Vocal Learning across taxonomic classes.
Timothy F Wright - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
defining the multidimensional phenotype new opportunities to integrate the behavioral ecology and behavioral neuroscience of Vocal Learning
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2021Co-Authors: Timothy F Wright, Elizabeth P DerryberryAbstract:Vocal Learning has evolved independently in several lineages. This complex cognitive trait is commonly treated as binary: species either possess or lack it. This view has been a useful starting place to examine the origins of Vocal Learning, but is also incomplete and potentially misleading, as specific components of the Vocal Learning program - such as the timing, extent and nature of what is learned - vary widely among species. In our review we revive an idea first proposed by Beecher and Brenowitz (2005) by describing six dimensions of Vocal Learning: (1) which Vocalizations are learned, (2) how much is learned, (3) when it is learned, (4) who it is learned from, (5) what is the extent of the internal template, and (6) how is the template integrated with social Learning and innovation. We then highlight key examples of functional and mechanistic work on each dimension, largely from avian taxa, and discuss how a multi-dimensional framework can accelerate our understanding of why Vocal Learning has evolved, and how brains became capable of this important behaviour.
-
social group signatures in hummingbird displays provide evidence of co occurrence of Vocal and visual Learning
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2019Co-Authors: Marcelo Arayasalas, Grace Smithvidaurre, Daniel J Mennill, Paulina L Gonzalezgomez, James A Cahill, Timothy F WrightAbstract:Vocal Learning, in which animals modify their Vocalizations based on social experience, has evolved in several lineages of mammals and birds, including humans. Despite much attention, the question ...
-
differential foxp2 and foxp1 expression in a Vocal Learning nucleus of the developing budgerigar
Developmental Neurobiology, 2015Co-Authors: Osceola Whitney, Stephanie A. White, Tawni Voyles, Erina Hara, Qianqian Chen, Timothy F WrightAbstract:The forkhead domain FOXP2 and FOXP1 transcription factors are implicated in several cognitive disorders with language deficits, notably autism, and thus play a central role in learned Vocal motor behavior in humans. Although a similar role for FoxP2 and FoxP1 is proposed for other vertebrate species, including songbirds, the neurodevelopmental expression of these genes are unknown in a species with lifelong Vocal Learning abilities. Like humans, budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) learn new Vocalizations throughout their entire lifetime. Like songbirds, budgerigars have distinct brain nuclei for Vocal Learning, which include the magnocellular nucleus of the medial striatum (MMSt), a basal ganglia region that is considered developmentally and functionally analogous to Area X in songbirds. Here, we used in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to investigate FoxP2 and FoxP1 expression in the MMSt of juvenile and adult budgerigars. We found FoxP2 mRNA and protein expression levels in the MMSt that were lower than the surrounding striatum throughout development and adulthood. In contrast, FoxP1 mRNA and protein had an elevated MMSt/striatum expression ratio as birds matured, regardless of their sex. These results show that life-long Vocal plasticity in budgerigars is associated with persistent low-level FoxP2 expression in the budgerigar MMSt, and suggests the possibility that FoxP1 plays an organizational role in the neurodevelopment of Vocal motor circuitry. Thus, developmental regulation of the FoxP2 and FoxP1 genes in the basal ganglia appears essential for Vocal mimicry in a range of species that possess this relatively rare trait.
-
neural foxp2 and foxp1 expression in the budgerigar an avian species with adult Vocal Learning
Behavioural Brain Research, 2015Co-Authors: Erina Hara, Stephanie A. White, Osceola Whitney, Qianqian Chen, Jemima M Perez, Timothy F WrightAbstract:Vocal Learning underlies acquisition of both language in humans and Vocal signals in some avian taxa. These bird groups and humans exhibit convergent developmental phases and associated brain pathways for Vocal communication. The transcription factor FoxP2 plays critical roles in Vocal Learning in humans and songbirds. Another member of the forkhead box gene family, FoxP1 also shows high expression in brain areas involved in Vocal Learning and production. Here, we investigate FoxP2 and FoxP1 mRNA and protein in adult male budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), a parrot species that exhibits Vocal Learning as both juveniles and adults. To examine these molecules in adult Vocal learners, we compared their expression patterns in the budgerigar striatal nucleus involved in Vocal Learning, magnocellular nucleus of the medial striatum (MMSt), across birds with different Vocal states, such as Vocalizing to a female (directed), Vocalizing alone (undirected), and non-Vocalizing. We found that both FoxP2 mRNA and protein expressions were consistently lower in MMSt than in the adjacent striatum regardless of the Vocal states, whereas previous work has shown that songbirds exhibit down-regulation in the homologous region, Area X, only after singing alone. In contrast, FoxP1 levels were high in MMSt compared to the adjacent striatum in all groups. Taken together these results strengthen the general hypothesis that FoxP2 and FoxP1 have specialized expression in Vocal nuclei across a range of taxa, and suggest that the adult Vocal plasticity seen in budgerigars may be a product of persistent down-regulation of FoxP2 in MMSt.
Vincent M Janik - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Cetacean Vocal Learning and communication
Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 2014Co-Authors: Vincent M JanikAbstract:The cetaceans are one of the few mammalian clades capable of Vocal production Learning. Evidence for this comes from synchronous changes in song patterns of baleen whales and experimental work on toothed whales in captivity. While baleen whales like many Vocal learners use this skill in song displays that are involved in sexual selection, toothed whales use learned signals in individual recognition and the negotiation of social relationships. Experimental studies demonstrated that dolphins can use learned signals referentially. Studies on wild dolphins demonstrated how this skill appears to be useful in their own communication system, making them an interesting subject for comparative communication studies. © 2014.
-
Vocal copying of individually distinctive signature whistles in bottlenose dolphins
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013Co-Authors: Stephanie L King, Laela S Sayigh, Randall S Wells, Wendi Fellner, Vincent M JanikAbstract:Vocal Learning is relatively common in birds but less so in mammals. Sexual selection and individual or group recognition have been identified as major forces in its evolution. While important in the development of Vocal displays, Vocal Learning also allows signal copying in social interactions. Such copying can function in addressing or labelling selected conspecifics. Most examples of addressing in non-humans come from bird song, where matching occurs in an aggressive context. However, in other animals, addressing with learned signals is very much an affiliative signal. We studied the function of Vocal copying in a mammal that shows Vocal Learning as well as complex cognitive and social behaviour, the bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ). Copying occurred almost exclusively between close associates such as mother–calf pairs and male alliances during separation and was not followed by aggression. All copies were clearly recognizable as such because copiers consistently modified some acoustic parameters of a signal when copying it. We found no evidence for the use of copying in aggression or deception. This use of Vocal copying is similar to its use in human language, where the maintenance of social bonds appears to be more important than the immediate defence of resources.
-
the different roles of social Learning in Vocal communication
Animal Behaviour, 2000Co-Authors: Vincent M Janik, P J B SlaterAbstract:While Vocal Learning has been studied extensively in birds and mammals, little effort has been made to define what exactly constitutes Vocal Learning and to classify the forms that it may take. We present such a theoretical framework for the study of social Learning in Vocal communication. We define different forms of social Learning that affect communication and discuss the required methodology to show each one. We distinguish between contextual and production Learning in animal communication. Contextual Learning affects the behavioural context or serial position of a signal. It can affect both usage and comprehension. Production Learning refers to instances where the signals themselves are modified in form as a result of experience with those of other individuals. Vocal Learning is defined as production Learning in the Vocal domain. It can affect one or more of three systems: the respiratory, phonatory and filter systems. Each involves a different level of control over the sound production apparatus. We hypothesize that contextual Learning and respiratory production Learning preceded the evolution of phonatory and filter production Learning. Each form of Learning potentially increases the complexity of a communication system. We also found that unexpected genetic or environmental factors can have considerable effects on Vocal behaviour in birds and mammals and are often more likely to cause changes or differences in Vocalizations than investigators may assume. Finally, we discuss how production Learning is used in innovation and invention, and present important future research questions.
