Operant conditioning, song learning and imprinting to taped song in the zebra finch

Abstract

Abstract. Young male zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, given control over the presentation of tape-recorded songs, imitated to a greater extent than siblings exposed passively to the same stimulation in an adjacent cage. They also copied more precisely the syntax of the song model acquired before sexual maturity. Thus, operant conditioning with song as reward strongly influenced song learning during development but not song preferences in adulthood. In choice tests using the same techniques, both experimental birds and yoked controls preferred the training song over a new song as well as over their own song. These results provide the first instance of imprinting to an auditory stimulus heard during the sensitive phase for song learning (35-65 days post-hatch) in an oscine species.