Integrative Studies of Development and Function of Vocalizations

鸟鸣被广泛认为是一个模式系统的调查 学习的生物学基础。 其地位源于 歌曲交流和人类之间的许多惊人的相似之处 语言和有关大脑机制的最新发现 基本的歌曲学习 事实上，鸟类的歌声已经成为 学习神经生物学研究的脊椎动物模型。 比彻博士将使用现场和实验室研究来检查 一种代表性的物种，歌雀的鸣唱学习。 场的视角对于理解这首歌至关重要 学习过程中，因为“规则”的歌曲学习，博士。 比彻在实地发现的结果是完全不同的 从实验室研究中推断出来的规律。 比彻博士将尝试通过 实验室和现场研究相结合。 解决 差异是至关重要的有效利用鸟类的歌声作为一个 模型系统，因为我们不能指望解决神经生物学的问题。 如果我们对歌曲学习的理解不完整， 或开始就不正确。 在实验室里，比彻博士 直接测试有关歌曲学习的假设来自他的 长期实地考察。 关键是， 假设要么没有表明，要么实际上是禁忌， 实验室研究至今。 (1)这只幼鸟会模仿整首歌 “老”或“老”的人，他没有“老”。 辅导混合歌曲）。 (2)他从所有的导师那里学了一些歌， 他所暴露的人。 (3)如果两个或两个以上的导师唱不同的 同样的歌曲类型的版本，年轻的鸟结合这些。 (4)由两个或两个以上导师共享的类型优先学习。 (5)学习歌曲的关键期远远超过了 在实验室研究中确定的“经典”时期。 比彻医生 我将通过实验室实验来验证这些结论 在其中，他模拟了发生在 场（包括：鸟听到现场导师，而不是磁带，他是 在关键期内依次接触导师， 他可以与他的导师进行社交互动）。 比彻医生也会 继续进行歌曲感知的实验室实验， 特别是将这些结果与日益增长的身体联系起来， 关于大脑中歌唱中心功能的知识。 最后，他将对自然界进行进一步的实地研究， 歌曲学习的背景。

Bird song is widely recognized as a model system for investigation into the biological basis of learning. Its status derives from the many striking parallels between song communication and human language and the recent discoveries concerning brain mechanisms underlying song learning. Indeed, bird song has become the major vertebrate model for the study of the neurobiology of learning. Dr. Beecher will use both field and laboratory studies to examine song learning in one representative species, the song sparrow. The field perspective is crucial for understanding the song learning process, because the "rules" of song learning that Dr. Beecher has discovered in the field turn out to be quite different from the rules that had been inferred from laboratory studies. Dr. Beecher will try to resolve this discrepancy through a combination of laboratory and field studies. Resolution of the discrepancy is crucial to the effective use of bird song as a model system, for we cannot hope to work out the neurobiology of song learning if our understanding of song learning is incomplete or incorrect to begin with. In the laboratory, Dr. Beecher will directly test hypotheses concerning song learning derived from his long-term field study. The key point is that each of these hypotheses is either not indicated or actually contra-indicated by laboratory studies to date. (1) The young bird copies whole songs of particular older individuals or "tutors" (he develops no cross- tutor hybrid songs). (2) He learns some songs from all tutors to whom he is exposed. (3) If two or more tutors sing different versions of the same song type, the young bird combines these. (4) Types shared by two or more tutors are preferentially learned. (5) The critical period for song learning extends well beyond the "classical" period identified in laboratory studies. Dr. Beecher will try to validate these conclusions by laboratory experiments in which he simulates the essential conditions that occur in the field (including: the bird hears live tutors, not tapes, he is exposed to the tutors sequentially during the critical period, and he can socially interact with his tutors). Dr. Beecher also will continue laboratory experiments on song perception, with a particular view to relating these results to the increasing body of knowledge concerning the function of song centers in the brain. Finally, he will carry out further field studies on the natural context of song learning.