Experimental Influences on Perceptual, Communicative, and Neural Capacities

9722865西/金拟议的研究的目的是探讨不同种类的感官体验的作用，对个体发育的鸟类沟通，重点是生殖技能和潜在的神经解剖结构。概述了三个目标，使用鸟类模型。首先，成人刺激对青少年学习者的影响将在一系列的纵向研究中进行检查。经验的影响的措施包括声音的增长，声音模仿，声音信号的使用，视觉注意力和生殖技能。第二，女性感知的特点将特别强调女性交配偏好的可修改性进行研究。新的证据表明，环境影响女性的偏好。偏好的衡量标准包括女性对听觉回放的反应和女性对潜在配偶的歧视。 最后，鸟类前脑的神经研究计划利用新的发现，女性的歌曲核和男性的视觉丘脑核的使用。 拟议的工作的结果应提前认识的性质发展组织的声乐和知觉学习和整合的行为和神经可塑性。 最后，神经分析应该通过揭示神经生长模式与相关生态经验的可用性之间的相互依赖性来拓宽我们对前脑结构作用的理解。

9722865 West/King The aim of the proposed research is to explore the role of different kinds of sensory experience on the ontogeny of avian communication, with a focus on reproductive skills and underlying neuroanatomical structures. Three objectives are outlined, using an avian model. First, the influence of adult stimulation on juvenile learners will be examined in a series of longitudinal studies. Measures of the effects of experience include vocal growth, vocal imitation, use of vocal signals, visual attention, and reproductive skills. Second, characteristics of female perception will be studied with special emphasis on modifiability of female mating preferences. New evidence suggests contextual influences on female preferences. Measures of preference include female responsiveness to auditory playback and female discrimination of potential mates. Finally, neural studies of the avian forebrain are planned to exploit new findings on females' use of song nuclei and males' use of a visual thalamic nucleus. The results of the proposed work should advance knowledge of the nature of developmental organization of vocal and perceptual learning and the integration of behavioral and neural plasticity. Finally, the neural analyses should broaden our understanding of the role of forebrain structures by revealing interdependencies between patterns of neural growth and availability of relevant ecological experience.