Freedom and Rules: The Acquisition and Reprogramming of a Bird's Learned Song

doi:10.1126/science.1108214

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Science 13 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5724, pp. 1046 - 1049
DOI: 10.1126/science.1108214

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Freedom and Rules: The Acquisition and Reprogramming of a Bird's Learned Song

Timothy J. Gardner,¹^,2^* Felix Naef,²^,3^,4 Fernando Nottebohm¹

Canary song is hierarchically structured: Short stereotypedsyllables are repeated to form phrases, which in turn are arrangedto form songs. This structure occurs even in the songs of youngisolates, which suggests that innate rules govern canary songdevelopment. However, juveniles that had never heard normalsong imitated abnormal synthetic songs with great accuracy,even when the tutor songs lacked phrasing. As the birds matured,imitated songs were reprogrammed to form typical canary phrasing.Thus, imitation and innate song constraints are separate processesthat can be segregated in time: freedom in youth, rules in adulthood.

¹ Laboratory of Animal Behavior, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA.
² Laboratory of Mathematical Physics, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA.
³ Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, CH-1066 Epalinges, Switzerland.
⁴ Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, CH-1066 Epalinges, Switzerland.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tgardner{at}mit.edu

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