COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Cognition and signaling in songbirds

这项研究将研究两种鸣禽的通信信号和认知能力之间的联系。这些物种的歌曲是后天习得的：雄性在生命早期就记住外部模型，然后在几个月后当它们开始唱歌时，利用这些记忆来塑造自己的作品。由于歌曲的发展涉及学习和记忆，因此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，将在一系列实验室任务中测量认知能力，例如，一种新的运动任务，其中受试者学习从觅食网格的威尔斯上取下盖子以获得食物，一种颜色联想任务，其中受试者学习将食物与特定颜色的盖子联系起来，以及一种空间任务，其中受试者学习只能在某些位置找到食物。然后，这些认知测量将与作为学习结果的歌曲的各个方面相关，例如在发育过程中复制歌曲模型的准确性以及与当地人群中的其他人共享歌曲类型的频率。鸣禽的发声学习与人类的言语发展有一系列惊人的相似之处，因此，鸣禽发声发展与认知之间联系的结果将对人类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机构中传播，而且还将在高中生物教师的研讨会上传播，这些研讨会旨在展示如何利用动物行为的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.