Abstract
Since the time of Darwin, biologists have wondered whether birdsong and music may serve similar purposes or have the same evolutionary precursors. Most attempts to compare song with music have focused on the qualities of the sounds themselves, such as melody and rhythm. Song is a signal, however, and as such its meaning is tied inextricably to the response of the receiver. Imaging studies in humans have revealed that hearing music induces neural responses in the mesolimbic reward pathway. In this study, we tested whether the homologous pathway responds in songbirds exposed to conspecific song. We played male song to laboratory-housed white-throated sparrows, and immunolabeled the immediate early gene product Egr-1 in each region of the reward pathway that has a clear or putative homologue in humans. We found that the responses, and how well they mirrored those of humans listening to music, depended on sex and endocrine state. In females with breeding-typical plasma levels of estradiol, all of the regions of the mesolimbic reward pathway that respond to music in humans responded to song. In males, we saw responses in the amygdala but not the nucleus accumbens – similar to the pattern reported in humans listening to unpleasant music. The shared responses in the evolutionarily ancient mesolimbic reward system suggest that birdsong and music engage the same neuroaffective mechanisms in the intended listeners.
Highlights
Ornithologists and musicians alike have long contemplated whether the song of birds might somehow be classified as “music.” The question can be approached from a variety of angles, each of which produces a somewhat different answer
SONG-INDUCED Egr-1 RESPONSES IN THE MESOLIMBIC REWARD PATHWAY In this study, we showed evidence of neural responses in the reward pathway of songbirds listening to conspecific song
We found that song is similar to music in that they both induce responses in components of the mesolimbic reward pathway
Summary
Ornithologists and musicians alike have long contemplated whether the song of birds might somehow be classified as “music.” The question can be approached from a variety of angles, each of which produces a somewhat different answer. Human listeners find music rewarding; they will approach it and work to hear it. Songbirds of many species likewise show a phonotaxic response to conspecific song. Female pied flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) and European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) approach and enter nest boxes containing speakers playing male song (Eriksson and Wallin, 1986; Gentner and Hulse, 2000), and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) will peck a key to hear male song (Riebel, 2000). Young male zebra finches who are learning to sing will peck to hear song (Adret, 1993), but in general, a phonotaxic effect of song is less pronounced in male songbirds than in females (Dobson and Petrinovich, 1973; Stevenson-Hinde and Roper, 1975)
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