Birdsong and Vocal Learning during Development

Abstract

Songbirds are one of the few groups of organisms other than humans that learn sounds for vocal communication during development, and the neural substrate that controls vocal learning and behavior is highly localized, making these circuits amenable to experimental manipulation and analysis. The song system is a model one for studying the neural and hormonal bases of vocal learning, and for examining plasticity of structure and function in neural systems generally. Similarities between vocal learning in birds and humans suggest that many aspects of the learning process have evolved to meet demands imposed by vocal communication (Marler 1976, Doupe and Kuhl 1999). Therefore, an understanding of the mechanisms underlying vocal learning in songbirds may have immediate application to problems in human vocal learning. In this review I concentrate on what is known about neural and hormonal mechanisms of vocal learning in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), a well-studied species in which juvenile males gradually learn to produce a specific vocal pattern during a sensitive period of development, and by adulthood are normally incapable of altering that pattern or learning new ones.