COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Cognition and signaling in songbirds

这项研究将考察两种鸣禽的交流信号和认知能力之间的联系。在这些物种中，歌声是被学习的：雄性在生命早期记忆外部模型，然后在几个月后开始唱歌时利用这些记忆来塑造自己的产物。因为歌曲的发展涉及学习和记忆，所以假设歌曲与认知的其他方面之间存在联系是合乎逻辑的。为了验证这一假设，认知能力将在一系列实验室任务中进行测量，例如一项新颖的运动任务，在这项任务中，受试者学习从觅食网格的孔洞中取出盖子以获得食物；一项颜色联想任务，在这项任务中，受试者学习将食物与特定颜色的盖子联系起来；以及一项空间任务，受试者学习到食物只能在特定的位置找到。这些认知测量将与歌曲的某些方面有关，这些方面是学习的结果，例如在发展过程中复制歌曲模型的准确性，以及与当地人口中的其他人分享歌曲类型的频率。鸣禽的声音学习与人类的言语发展有一系列惊人的相似之处，因此，鸣禽的声音发育与认知之间的联系的结果将对人类的认知与言语之间的关系产生影响。这项研究的结果不仅将在科学媒体上传播，还将在为高中生物教师设计的研讨会上传播，这些研讨会旨在展示如何利用动物行为研究来教授科学方法。

This research will examine associations between communication signals and cognitive ability in two species of songbirds. Song in these species is learned: males memorize external models early in life, and then use these memories to shape their own production when they begin to sing many months later. Because song development involves learning and memory, it is logical to hypothesize an association between song and other aspects of cognition. To test that hypothesis, cognitive ability will be measured in a series of laboratory tasks, for example a novel motor task, in which subjects learn to remove lids from the wells of a foraging grid to obtain food, a color association task, in which subjects learn to associate food with lids of a particular color, and a spatial task, in which subjects learn that food can be found only in certain locations. These cognitive measures will then be related to aspects of song that are the outcome of learning, such as the accuracy with which song models are copied during development and the frequency of sharing of song types with others in the local population. Vocal learning in songbirds shows a series of striking parallels with speech development in humans, and therefore results on the tie between vocal development and cognition in songbirds will have implications for the relationship between cognition and speech in humans. Results from the study will be disseminated not only in scientific outlets but also in workshops for high school biology teachers designed to demonstrate how the study of animal behavior can be used to teach the scientific method.