DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Learning through Eavesdropping: Field Experiments on Song Learning in Birds

在窃听中学习：关于歌曲学习的现场实验BIRDSEliot A.Brenowitz，P.I.DDIG：Proposal#：IOS-0808562鸟类复杂而优美的歌声一直吸引着人类。对于金丝雀(鸣鸟)来说，这些歌声更有趣，因为它们必须学会。鸟类的鸣唱学习已经在实验室中得到了广泛的分析，并成为研究动物学习的生态学、进化论、神经生物学和遗传学的主要模式系统。此外，鸟类的发声学习与人类有许多相似之处，包括社会因素的重要性，这使得鸟鸣成为研究人类语言学习的最佳模式之一。本研究是一项关于社会因素在鸟鸣学习中的作用的实验田野研究。令人惊讶的是，过去几年的实验室研究表明，一只幼鸟更多地受到他窃听的歌唱互动的影响，而不是他与成年歌唱导师的直接互动。最近的田野工作，使用无线电遥测跟踪野生幼鸟，并观察它们与成年导师的互动，也证实了窃听歌唱互动的重要性。本研究将利用无线电和心率遥测技术，从实验上检测幼年鸣雀对不同类型的模拟歌唱的行为和生理反应。这项研究将通过评估幼鸟对不同类型的成人歌唱比赛和成人独唱比赛回放的反应，来探讨窃听在歌曲学习中的重要性。这些现场实验的结果将补充先前和正在进行的实验室研究，以阐明在这个模型声乐学习系统中塑造歌曲发展的社会因素。除了它的科学影响，这项工作还将通过对本科生的专门培训以及通过正式的教育经历和在实地(繁忙的城市公园)与公众的无数非正式互动，具有相当大的教育价值。

LEARNING THROUGH EAVESDROPPING: FIELD EXPERIMENTS ON SONG LEARNING IN BIRDSEliot A. Brenowitz, P.I.DDIG: Proposal #: IOS-0808562The complex and beautiful songs of birds have always intrigued humans. For the Oscine passerines (songbirds), these songs are even more interesting because they must be learned. Song learning in birds has been extensively analyzed in the laboratory and has become a major model system for studying the ecology, evolution, neurobiology, and genetics of learning in animals. In addition, there are many parallels between the vocal learning of birds and humans, including the importance of social factors, making bird song one of the best models for studying human language learning. This research is an experimental field study investigating the role of social factors in bird song learning. Laboratory work of the last few years has suggested, surprisingly, that a young bird is more influenced by singing interactions he eavesdrops on than by direct interactions he has with adult song tutors. Recent fieldwork, using radio telemetry to follow juvenile birds in the wild and observe their interactions with adult tutors, also corroborates the importance of eavesdropping on singing interactions. The present study will use radio and heart rate telemetry to experimentally examine the behavioral and physiological response of juvenile song sparrows to different types of simulated singing. This research will investigate the importance of eavesdropping in song learning by assessing the response of juvenile birds to playback of different types of adult singing contests compared with solo adult singing. The results from these field experiments will compliment previous and ongoing laboratory research in elucidating the social factors that shape song development in this model vocal learning system. In addition to its scientific impacts, this work will be of considerable educational value, through dedicated training of undergraduates and through formal educational experiences and countless informal interactions with the general public at the field site (a busy urban park).