Bird Song: Learning, Perception and Function

鸟鸣具有相当广泛的科学价值，因为它已被证明是单一的最佳模型系统，涉及自然发生的复杂行为，用于(A)学习研究和(B)大脑-行为关系的研究。此外，鸟鸣和人类语言之间还有许多惊人的相似之处，包括发育和神经方面的相似之处。本文的研究方法在从感性的角度考虑歌曲传播系统方面是独一无二的。以前的研究主要集中在信号上，而通常忽略了动物的感觉-知觉系统对这些信号进行的转换。如果动物感知它们的信号系统与人类不同，这种方法是不完整的，可能会产生误导，就像许多动物通信系统，特别是鸟鸣一样。近年来已经开发了一些方法，这些方法允许研究人员通过训练一组动物以指示该组中所有可能对的一对刺激之间的感知相似性，来表征该组动物的一组刺激的感知维度。这种方法和相关方法将被用来绘制宋麻雀歌唱系统的感知维度，这是一个有着特别复杂和多样化歌声的物种。为了考察经验在正常鸣唱体验发展中的作用，我们将对养大的鸟类和没有听到正常物种歌唱的鸟类进行比较。初步数据显示，后者成年后唱的歌是异常的，预计它们的歌唱知觉也是异常的。此外，还将确定歌曲体验、歌曲知觉和大脑中歌曲中心的相对发展之间的相关性。因此，本研究将为歌曲学习中被忽视的知觉方面提供信息，从而加深我们对这一模型系统的理解，增加其实用性。

Bird song is of considerable general scientific interest because it has proved to be the single best model system, involving a naturally-occurring complex behavior, for (a) the study of learning, and (b) the study of brain-behavior relationships. In addition, there are many surprising parallels between bird song and human language, including developmental and neurological similarities. The present research approach is unique in considering the song communication system from a perceptual point of view. Previous research has focussed on the signals, and has generally ignored the transformations performed on these signals by the animal's sensory-perceptual system. This approach is incomplete and potentially misleading if the animals perceive their signal systems differently from humans, as is very likely the case for many animal communication systems, and for bird song in particular. Methods have been developed in recent years that allow a researcher to characterize the perceptual dimensions of a set of stimuli for an animal by training it to indicate the perceived similarity between a pair of stimuli for all possible pairs in the set. This approach and related methods will be used to map the perceptual dimensions of the song system of the Song Sparrow, a species with a particularly complex and varied song. To examine the role of experience in the development of normal song experience, birds raised with and birds raised without hearing normal species song will be compared. Preliminary data has shown that the latter birds sing an abnormal song as adults and it is expected that their song perception is abnormal as well. In addition, correlations between song experience, song perception and the relative development of song centers in the brain will be determined. Therefore this research will advance our understanding and increase the utility of this model system by providing information on the heretofore neglected perceptual side of song learning.