Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Originally published in Science Express on 15 March 2001
Science 30 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5513, pp. 2564 - 2569
DOI: 10.1126/science.1058522
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Dynamics of the Vocal Imitation Process: How a Zebra Finch Learns Its Song

Ofer Tchernichovski,1*dagger Partha P. Mitra,2* Thierry Lints,1* Fernando Nottebohm1*

Song imitation in birds provides good material for studying the basic biology of vocal learning. Techniques were developed for inducing the rapid onset of song imitation in young zebra finches and for tracking trajectories of vocal change over a 7-week period until a match to a model song was achieved. Exposure to a model song induced the prompt generation of repeated structured sounds (prototypes) followed by a slow transition from repetitive to serial delivery of syllables. Tracking this transition revealed two phenomena: (i) Imitations of dissimilar sounds can emerge from successive renditions of the same prototype, and (ii) developmental trajectories for some sounds followed paths of increasing acoustic mismatch until an abrupt correction occurred by period doubling. These dynamics are likely to reflect underlying neural and articulatory constraints on the production and imitation of sounds.

1 Field Research Center, The Rockefeller University, Millbrook, NY 12545, USA.
2 Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA.
*   All authors contributed equally to this work.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tcherno{at}mail.rockefeller.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Neural mechanisms for learned birdsong.
R. Mooney (2009)
Learn. Mem. 16, 655-669
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Social Context Rapidly Modulates the Influence of Auditory Feedback on Avian Vocal Motor Control.
J. T. Sakata and M. S. Brainard (2009)
J Neurophysiol 102, 2485-2497
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dynamics of crowing development in the domestic Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).
S. Deregnaucourt, S. Saar, and M. Gahr (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 2153-2162
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An Avian Basal Ganglia-Forebrain Circuit Contributes Differentially to Syllable Versus Sequence Variability of Adult Bengalese Finch Song.
C. M. Hampton, J. T. Sakata, and M. S. Brainard (2009)
J Neurophysiol 101, 3235-3245
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Top-Down Regulation of Plasticity in the Birdsong System: "Premotor" Activity in the Nucleus HVC Predicts Song Variability Better Than It Predicts Song Features.
N. F. Day, A. K. Kinnischtzke, M. Adam, and T. A. Nick (2008)
J Neurophysiol 100, 2956-2965
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Online Contributions of Auditory Feedback to Neural Activity in Avian Song Control Circuitry.
J. T. Sakata and M. S. Brainard (2008)
J. Neurosci. 28, 11378-11390
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Central Contributions to Acoustic Variation in Birdsong.
S. J. Sober, M. J. Wohlgemuth, and M. S. Brainard (2008)
J. Neurosci. 28, 10370-10379
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Linkage Map of the Zebra Finch Taeniopygia guttata Provides New Insights Into Avian Genome Evolution.
J. Stapley, T. R. Birkhead, T. Burke, and J. Slate (2008)
Genetics 179, 651-667
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Social Modulation of Sequence and Syllable Variability in Adult Birdsong.
J. T. Sakata, C. M. Hampton, and M. S. Brainard (2008)
J Neurophysiol 99, 1700-1711
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A learning program that ensures prompt and versatile vocal imitation.
W.-c. Liu and F. Nottebohm (2007)
PNAS 104, 20398-20403
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Model of Birdsong Learning Based on Gradient Estimation by Dynamic Perturbation of Neural Conductances.
I. R. Fiete, M. S. Fee, and H. S. Seung (2007)
J Neurophysiol 98, 2038-2057
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Behavioral Measurements of a Temporally Precise Motor Code for Birdsong.
C. M. Glaze and T. W. Troyer (2007)
J. Neurosci. 27, 7631-7639
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Singing-Related Activity of Identified HVC Neurons in the Zebra Finch.
A. A. Kozhevnikov and M. S. Fee (2007)
J Neurophysiol 97, 4271-4283
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Developmental Modulation of the Temporal Relationship Between Brain and Behavior.
S. R. Crandall, N. Aoki, and T. A. Nick (2007)
J Neurophysiol 97, 806-816
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
High Levels of New Neuron Addition Persist When the Sensitive Period for Song Learning Is Experimentally Prolonged.
L. Wilbrecht, H. Williams, N. Gangadhar, and F. Nottebohm (2006)
J. Neurosci. 26, 9135-9141
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Lesions of an Avian Basal Ganglia Circuit Prevent Context-Dependent Changes to Song Variability.
M. H. Kao and M. S. Brainard (2006)
J Neurophysiol 96, 1441-1455
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Freedom and Rules: The Acquisition and Reprogramming of a Bird's Learned Song.
T. J. Gardner, F. Naef, and F. Nottebohm (2005)
Science 308, 1046-1049
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sensorimotor Nucleus NIf Is Necessary for Auditory Processing But Not Vocal Motor Output in the Avian Song System.
J. A. Cardin, J. N. Raksin, and M. F. Schmidt (2005)
J Neurophysiol 93, 2157-2166
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Juvenile zebra finches can use multiple strategies to learn the same song.
W.-c. Liu, T. J. Gardner, and F. Nottebohm (2004)
PNAS 101, 18177-18182
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sequential Learning From Multiple Tutors and Serial Retuning of Auditory Neurons in a Brain Area Important to Birdsong Learning.
Y. Yazaki-Sugiyama and R. Mooney (2004)
J Neurophysiol 92, 2771-2788
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Temporal Sparseness of the Premotor Drive Is Important for Rapid Learning in a Neural Network Model of Birdsong.
I. R. Fiete, R. H.R. Hahnloser, M. S. Fee, and H. S. Seung (2004)
J Neurophysiol 92, 2274-2282
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Noradrenergic Inputs Mediate State Dependence of Auditory Responses in the Avian Song System.
J. A. Cardin and M. F. Schmidt (2004)
J. Neurosci. 24, 7745-7753
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Limits on Reacquisition of Song in Adult Zebra Finches Exposed to White Noise.
J. D. Zevin, M. S. Seidenberg, and S. W. Bottjer (2004)
J. Neurosci. 24, 5849-5862
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
FoxP2 Expression in Avian Vocal Learners and Non-Learners.
S. Haesler, K. Wada, A. Nshdejan, E. E. Morrisey, T. Lints, E. D. Jarvis, and C. Scharff (2004)
J. Neurosci. 24, 3164-3175
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Pattern of Interhemispheric Synchronization in HVc During Singing Correlates With Key Transitions in the Song Pattern.
M. F. Schmidt (2003)
J Neurophysiol 90, 3931-3949
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Human speech and birdsong: Communication and the social brain.
P. K. Kuhl (2003)
PNAS 100, 9645-9646
   Full Text »    PDF »
Long Memory in Song Learning by Zebra Finches.
Y. Funabiki and M. Konishi (2003)
J. Neurosci. 23, 6928-6935
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Foreign-language experience in infancy: Effects of short-term exposure and social interaction on phonetic learning.
P. K. Kuhl, F.-M. Tsao, and H.-M. Liu (2003)
PNAS 100, 9096-9101
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Experience Affects Recruitment of New Neurons But Not Adult Neuron Number.
L. Wilbrecht, A. Crionas, and F. Nottebohm (2002)
J. Neurosci. 22, 825-831
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)