Birdsong: From behaviour to brain

Abstract

Although vocal communication is wide-spread in animal kingdom, the use of learned (in contrast to innate) vocalization is very rare. We can find it only in few animal taxa: human, bats, whales and dolphins, elephants, parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds. There are several parallels between human and songbird perception and production of vocal signals. Hence, many studies take interest in songbird singing for investigating the neural bases of learning and memory. Brain circuits controlling song learning and maintenance consist of two pathways -a vocal motor pathway responsible for production of learned vocalizations and anterior forebrain pathway responsible for learning and modifying the vocalizations. This review provides an overview of the song organization, its behavioural traits, and neural regulations. The recently expanding area of molecular mapping of the behaviour-driven gene expression in brain represents one of the modern approaches to the study the function of vocal and auditory areas for song learning and maintenance in birds.

The photosensitive phase acts as a sensitive window for seasonal multisensory neuroplasticity in male and female starlings

“…It seems as if the song-related seasonal neuroplasticity occurs slightly sooner in females compared to males, especially in the rostral surroundings of Area X, which is a part of the anterior forebrain pathway, and the CSt, which is an auditory region. Both structures could play a role in the auditory feedback loop that is associated with vocal learning (Bosíková et al, 2010). The female singing behavior was most prominent during the photosensitive period in our experiment, which is in good agreement with Pavlova et al (2007).…”

Uncovering a ‘sensitive window’ of multisensory and motor neuroplasticity in the cerebrum and cerebellum of male and female starlings

“…It seems as if the song-related seasonal neuroplasticity occurs slightly sooner in females compared to males, especially in the rostral surroundings of Area X, which is a part of the anterior forebrain pathway, and the CSt, which is an auditory region. Both structures could play a role in the auditory feedback loop that is associated with vocal learning ( Bosíková et al, 2010 ). In many song control nuclei, fractional anisotropy values remain high during photostimulated and photorefractory period, only in some parts of the Area X and right HVC surroundings females show a slight dip in fractional anisotropy during the photostimulated phase, before increasing again during the photorefractory phase.…”

What do zebra finches learn besides singing? Systematic mapping of the literature and presentation of an efficient associative learning test

“…However, it is important to recognise that environmental factors, such as traffic noise, can also affect social learning by interfering with communication between individuals, just as they do with other forms of learning (Osbrink et al 2021 ). Furthermore, exposure to lead has been shown to have a negative effect on the song learning ability of male zebra finches (Goodchild et al 2021 ), which is closely associated with social learning in terms of brain function and regions (Bosikova et al 2010 ). Thus, investigating the relationship between different environmental factors and social learning through further empirical studies could shed light on the underlying mechanisms.…”

“…While it makes sense to investigate memory retention and spatial orientation with brain lesion techniques (Mayer and Bischof 2012 ; Watanabe 2001 ), more insights could also be gained for other learning domains. Brain manipulations are very often used in song studies (Bosikova et al 2010 ), so there is the potential to investigate the effects of such treatments on cognitive domains that may be traded off or positively correlated with song learning.…”

“…Social learning was not at all studied in parallel with song learning. This was surprising considering that song learning is a social process and the two domains have been associated with the same brain functions (Bosikova et al 2010 ; Zachar et al 2020 ). Overall, this knowledge gap provides one of the directions for future research, namely to investigate relationships between song learning and social learning domains.…”