Social, Ecological and Genetic Variables in a Model Vocal Learning System

模型声乐学习系统中的社会、生态和遗传变量

• 批准号: 0216614
• 负责人: Eliot Brenowitz
• 金额: $ 54.43万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-01 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0216614&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; Ecological; Genetic; Variables; Model

Social, Ecological and Genetic Variables in a Model Learning SystemMichael D. BeecherThe use of elaborate acoustic vocalizations for communication is common in a wide variety of animal groups. In the oscine passerines (songbirds), such vocalizations are called song and have an additional, intriguing aspect: they are learned, with much of that learning occurring very early in life. Song learning in songbirds has been extensively analyzed in the laboratory and has become a major model system for studying the neurobiology of learning. Its value as a model system is enhanced by its many parallels with human language learning. These parallels include an early sensitive period, a perceptual filtering mechanism tuned to species communication signals, a crucial role for auditory feedback in normal development, a separation between sensory and motor learning, and an early subsong or babbling stage. Work on the neural basis of song perception and production in songbirds has revealed additional parallels between the neural centers for song in birds and those for language in humans. In this context, understanding the normal course of song development in songbirds becomes crucial if this model system is going to provide general insights into the development of vocal communication systems in general and human language in particular. Unfortunately, our understanding of normal song development is surprisingly incomplete, because most studies of song learning to date have been laboratory experiments in which essentially all social features have been removed. Four series of studies will be carried out to examine social, ecological and genetic variables in the song learning process for one particular species, the song sparrow. In the first series of experiments, singing interactions between tutor and tutee, and between tutors, will be manipulated and analyzed as a potential variable in song learning; this will be the first time this has been attempted in the laboratory. The setup will simulate four live song tutors, and both tutor-tutor and tutor-tutee singing interactions will be systematically varied; the general prediction is that birds will copy more songs from more interactive tutors. A second study will examine the role of genetic factors by comparing song learning by eastern and western song sparrows. On the basis of field studies, it has been hypothesized that birds in the two populations follow very different, genetically-based song-learning programs. This hypothesis will be tested by collecting birds from both populations and raising them in a common song-tutoring regime; according to the genetic hypothesis, the differences observed in the field should persist despite the common tutoring regime. In a third study, song learning will be directly examined in the field by radio-tracking young song sparrows through their first year and correlating the extent and timing of their interactions with potential song tutors and the degree to which the young birds copy their songs. In the fourth study, playback experiments in which the experimenter simulates a birds neighbor by playing recordings of the neighbor to the bird in a realistic simulation -- will be carried out to analyze how birds in both populations use their songs in territorial interactions with their neighbors. Field studies have suggested that the rules of communication in these two populations may be quite different, paralleling the presumed difference in their song learning programs. It is hoped that results from these different lines of research will combine to elucidate the social factors that shape the development of this model vocal learning system. In turn, such insights may shed light on human disorders such as autism that are characterized by a co-occurrence of language and social deficiencies.

模型学习系统中的社会、生态和遗传变量。BeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecherBeecher通过复杂的发声来进行交流在各种动物群体中很常见。 在鸣禽（鸣禽）中，这种发声被称为歌曲，并且还有一个额外的有趣的方面：它们是学习的，其中大部分学习发生在生命的早期。 鸣禽的鸣唱学习已经在实验室中得到了广泛的分析，并已成为研究学习神经生物学的主要模型系统。 它作为一个模型系统的价值因其与人类语言学习的许多相似之处而增强。 这些相似之处包括早期敏感期，感知过滤机制调谐到物种通信信号，听觉反馈在正常发育中的关键作用，感觉和运动学习之间的分离，以及早期亚歌或牙牙学语阶段。 对鸣禽鸣唱感知和产生的神经基础的研究揭示了鸟类鸣唱神经中心和人类语言神经中心之间的额外相似之处。 在这种情况下，了解鸣禽的歌曲发展的正常过程变得至关重要，如果这个模型系统将提供一般的见解，特别是人类语言的发展声乐通信系统。 不幸的是，我们对正常的歌曲发展的理解是惊人的不完整，因为迄今为止大多数关于歌曲学习的研究都是实验室实验，基本上所有的社会特征都被删除了。 四个系列的研究将进行检查的社会，生态和遗传变量的歌曲学习过程中的一个特定的物种，歌麻雀。在第一系列的实验中，歌唱导师和导师之间的互动，导师，将被操纵和分析作为一个潜在的变量在歌曲学习，这将是第一次在实验室中尝试。 该设置将模拟四个现场歌曲导师，导师与导师和导师与导师的歌唱互动将系统地变化;一般的预测是，鸟类将从更多的互动导师那里复制更多的歌曲。 第二项研究将通过比较东方和西方歌雀的歌曲学习来研究遗传因素的作用。 在实地研究的基础上，人们假设这两个种群中的鸟类遵循非常不同的、基于遗传的歌曲学习程序。 这一假设将通过从两个种群收集鸟类并在共同的歌曲辅导制度中饲养它们来进行测试;根据遗传假设，尽管有共同的辅导制度，但在该领域观察到的差异仍然存在。 在第三项研究中，将通过无线电跟踪第一年的幼鸟，并将其与潜在的歌曲导师互动的程度和时间以及幼鸟复制其歌曲的程度相关联，直接在野外检查歌曲学习。 在第四项研究中，播放实验中，实验者通过在现实模拟中播放邻居的录音来模拟鸟类邻居，以分析两个种群中的鸟类如何使用它们的歌声与邻居进行领土互动。 实地研究表明，这两个群体的交流规则可能非常不同，这与他们的歌曲学习程序中的假设差异平行。 希望这些不同研究方向的结果能联合收割机来阐明形成这种模式的声乐学习系统发展的社会因素。反过来，这样的见解可能会揭示人类疾病，如自闭症，其特征是语言和社会缺陷的共同发生。