Developmental Diversity in Communicative Capacities

鸟类鸣叫的复杂性和学习在其发展中的作用，使其成为科学家们制定学习与发展比较原则的重要研究课题。Drs。韦斯特和金一直在研究褐头牛鹂鸣叫结构、功能和发育之间的相互关系。聚焦于发声发育的社会中介，他们的重要发现包括：(1)来自不唱歌的雌性的社会刺激对雄性发声发育的重要影响；(2)雄性和雌性在歌唱发育过程中使用的视觉信号，似乎传达了关于歌曲效力的信息；(3)亚种间声音交流发育的差异。因此，棕头牛鹂是一个特别合适的物种，用来研究以前没有在鸣禽中探索过的学习形式，特别是在发育过程中视觉和声音刺激的整合。Drs。West和King设计了一个实验方案来测量男性的发声能力，女性的感知能力，以及连接声音感知和发声的两性社会互动的本质。将对不同种群进行比较，以调查同一物种和亚种内发育程序的差异程度。这个项目正在探索新的调查领域，其基础是经过验证的方法和过去的发现，这些发现揭示了行为适应性修改的以前未知的方面。因此，这项研究有可能引入声音学习的新概念，对我们理解包括人类在内的动物如何将复杂的交流模式传递给下一代具有特殊意义。

The complexity of bird song and the role of learning in its development make it an important topic of inquiry for scientists formulating comparative principles of learning and development. Drs. West and King have been studying interrelationships among song structure, function, and development in brown-headed cowbirds. Focusing on the social mediation of vocal development, their important discoveries include (1) the important influence of social stimulation from non-singing females on vocal development of males, (2) visual signals used by males and females during song development that appear to communicate information about song potency, and (3) differences among subspecies in the development of vocal communication. The brown-headed cowbird is thus an especially appropriate species for studying forms of learning not previously explored in songbirds, particularly the integration of visual and vocal stimulation during development. Drs. West and King have designed an experimental protocol to measure the vocal capacities of males, the perceptual capacities of females, and the nature of social interactions between the sexes that link vocal perception and production. Different populations will be compared to investigate the extent to which developmental programs vary within the same species and subspecies. This project is exploring new areas of inquiry on the basis of proven methods and past findings that revealed previously unknown aspects of adaptive modification of behavior. The research therefore has the potential to introduce new concepts of vocal learning of special significance for our understanding of how animals, including humans, transmit complex modes of communication to the next generation.