Dissertation Research: Selective Attrition During Song Development

论文研究：歌曲发展过程中的选择性损耗

• 批准号: 9701351
• 负责人: Michael Beecher
• 金额: $ 0.57万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-06-15 至 1999-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9701351&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Selective; Attrition; During

9701351 Beecher Bird song is widely recognized as a model system for investigations into the biological basis of learning. It provides the best example to date of natural learning in a vertebrate, with many striking parallels to human language learning. Moreover, in recent years many discoveries concerning the brain mechanisms underlying song learning have suggested that this model system may reveal much about the general processes of learning in the brain. This proposal will examine one key aspect of song learning, the tendency of young birds to memorize more songs than they will ultimately keep for their final repertoire of songs. Most studies have been done in the laboratory, but the major study will be conducted on a free-living population of song sparrows, thus permitting evaluation of the adaptive significance and ecological context of song learning. The major question addressed is why do male song sparrows produce more song types during juvenile song than they have in their final adult repertoires? Specifically, why do they keep certain songs and not others. The hypothesis is that they keep those songs that best match those of their neighbors during their first breeding season. The research will record "plastic" songs of juvenile males (song is not fully formed until March or April of the bird's first spring) and compare these to "crystallized" song types in the bird's adult repertoire and to the songs of adult males present in the bird's natal summer and his first spring (a partially overlapping group). A parallel study in the laboratory of hand-raised birds tutored by several adult males will also be conducted. This research will allow a better understanding of how song is learned, and insights into learning processes in general.

9701351比彻鸟鸣被广泛认为是研究学习的生物学基础的模型系统。 它提供了迄今为止脊椎动物自然学习的最好例子，与人类语言学习有许多惊人的相似之处。 此外，近年来许多关于歌曲学习的大脑机制的发现表明，这个模型系统可能揭示了大脑学习的一般过程。 这项建议将研究歌曲学习的一个关键方面，幼鸟记住更多歌曲的倾向，而不是最终保留下来的歌曲。 大多数研究都是在实验室进行的，但主要的研究将进行一个自由生活的人口的歌麻雀，从而允许评估的适应意义和生态环境的歌曲学习。 解决的主要问题是，为什么雄性歌麻雀产生更多的歌曲类型在少年歌曲比他们在他们的最后成人剧目？ 具体来说，为什么他们保留某些歌曲而不是其他歌曲。 假设是，它们在第一个繁殖季节保留了那些与邻居最匹配的歌曲。 这项研究将记录幼年雄性的“塑料”歌曲（歌曲直到鸟类第一个春天的3月或4月才完全形成），并将其与鸟类成年曲目中的“结晶”歌曲类型进行比较，并与鸟类出生时的夏季和第一个春天的成年雄性歌曲进行比较（部分重叠组）。 还将在实验室进行一项由几名成年雄性指导的人工饲养鸟类的平行研究。 这项研究将使人们更好地了解歌曲是如何学习的，并深入了解一般的学习过程。