Songbird BioCognition: An integrative approach to understanding songbird communication

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The main objective of my research program is to understand songbird vocal communication. I use songbirds as a model system for many reasons, including the fact that they learn their vocalizations from a model in a manner analogous to human speech learning and because of the fact that vocal communication in songbirds, as in humans, is critical to their survival. The overall question is: "How do songbirds communicate using their songs and calls?" My approach involves the use of many different research techniques focused on answering this one question, but by attacking it at different points. For instance, we describe and characterize the vocalizations that songbirds produce including their songs, used to attract mates, and their calls, used for a variety of purposes, including raising alarm when a predator is detected. Once the vocalization that we are interested in has been described in adequate detail, we then determine what it is about the vocalization that sets it apart from other, similar vocalizations. To do this, we use statistical techniques designed to point us to the features that are important in each vocalization, or we conduct experiments with birds in the field or in the lab, to understand what birds themselves deem important when they perceive a particular vocalization. We also try to understand which brain areas are used when birds listen to their vocalizations. To do this aspect of our work, we expose birds to various vocalizations and then assess the patterns of activity in their brains using sophisticated anatomical techniques that are able to tell us what cells are active, where in the brain these cells are located, and for which signals they are most responsive. Finally, we examine the role of early experience on vocal perception by raising songbirds in different conditions (e.g., with another species) and test their perception against that of birds captured from the wild. Taken together, we hope to gain a broad understanding of how it is that songbirds communicate, and in so doing, hope to shed light on common mechanisms in our own, human, communication system.