Consistency of female preference for male song in the domestic canary using two measures: Operant conditioning and vocal response

Salvin, Pauline; Derégnaucourt, Sébastien; Leboucher, Gérard; Amy, Mathieu

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2018.10.004

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Operant tasks that use song as a reinforcer also indicate that positive emotional states induced by hearing song play a role in adaptively shaping female mate choices. Female canaries, Serinus canaria , preferentially perform copulation solicitation displays in response to certain “sexy” male song syllables, and operant key peck tasks indicate that these songs are more reinforcing than songs that lack these syllables ( Salvin et al, 2018 ). Female starlings trained to land on a perch-apparatus to play recorded male song spend more time on perches that play longer songs ( Gentner and Hulse, 2000 ).…”

Section: Birdsong As a Stimulus That Induces A Positive Emotional Sta...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion

et al. 2022

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Birds are not commonly admired for emotional expression, and when they are, the focus is typically on negative states; yet vocal behavior is considered a direct reflection of an individual’s emotional state. Given that over 4000 species of songbird produce learned, complex, context-specific vocalizations, we make the case that songbirds are conspicuously broadcasting distinct positive emotional states and that hearing songs can also induce positive states in other birds. Studies are reviewed that demonstrate that that the production of sexually motivated song reflects an emotional state of anticipatory reward-seeking (i.e., mate-seeking), while outside the mating context song in gregarious flocks reflects a state of intrinsic reward. Studies are also reviewed that demonstrate that hearing song induces states of positive anticipation and reward. This review brings together numerous studies that highlight a potentially important role for the songbird nucleus accumbens, a region nearly synonymous with reward in mammals, in positive emotional states that underlie singing behavior and responses to song. It is proposed that the nucleus accumbens is part of an evolutionarily conserved circuitry that contributes context-dependently to positive emotional states that motivate and reward singing behavior and responses to song. Neural mechanisms that underlie basic emotions appear to be conserved and similar across vertebrates. Thus, these findings in songbirds have the potential to provide insights into interventions that can restore positive social interactions disrupted by mental health disorders in humans.

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Section: Birdsong As a Stimulus That Induces A Positive Emotional Sta...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion

et al. 2022

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“…Other types of calls such as churring or screaming were easily separated and these were not used to assess female arousal. Female vocal response was used to assess female preferences for song 88 , 89 , 92 , 93 and it was measured as a Binomial variable per song-type bout (female response: yes/no), marking yes if there was at least one vocalisation during a song-type bout of 1:15 min, considering solely calls associated with copulation solicitation displays. The complete presentation of the playback lasted for one hour or until the female exited the box, which was easily identified in the audio recordings 52 and confirmed with the video recordings.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual selection for both diversity and repetition in birdsong

2023

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From fiddler crabs to humans, animals perform repetitive displays showing neuromotor skill and vigour. Consistent repetition of identical notes (vocal consistency) facilitates the assessment of neuromotor skills and is important in communication in birds. Most birdsong research has focused on song diversity as a signal of individual quality, which seems contradictory as repetition is extremely common in most species. Here we show that consistent repetition within songs is positively correlated with reproductive success in male blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). A playback experiment shows that females are sexually aroused by male songs with high levels of vocal consistency, which also peaks seasonally during the fertile period of the female, supporting the role of vocal consistency in mate choice. Male vocal consistency also increases with subsequent repetitions of the same song type (a warm-up effect) which conflicts with the fact that females habituate to repeated song, showing decreased arousal. Importantly, we find that switching song types elicits significant dishabituation within the playback, supporting the habituation hypothesis as an evolutionary mechanism driving song diversity in birds. An optimal balance between repetition and diversity may explain the singing style of many bird species and displays of other animals.

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“…We tested the preference of females for the dialect of their colony by using an operant task with song as a reward (Riebel, 2000;Riebel & Slater, 1998;Riebel et al, 2002;Salvin et al, 2018). The experimental set-up has been inspired by the one described in Houx and ten Cate (1999) and used in other studies (Riebel, 2000;Riebel et al, 2002;Salvin et al, 2018). The apparatus consisted of a soundproof chamber (85 × 65 × 60 cm) containing a metal cage F I G U R E 1 Spectrograms illustrating song models of colonies and of songs used as stimuli for the preference test.…”

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To verify this prediction, we tested female zebra finches with an operant conditioning paradigm (Riebel, 2000; Riebel & Slater, 1998; Riebel et al., 2002; Salvin et al., 2018). During the test, a female had the choice between two response keys, each triggering a different song type when pecked: one response key triggered the playback of the song type of her colony, which we refer to as the “Colony Song Type” (CST), and the other response key triggered the playback of a conspecific song type that was different from the song type of her colony, which we refer to as the “Non‐Colony Song Type” (N‐CST).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female preference for artificial song dialects in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

2021

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Birdsong is culturally transmitted, and geographical variations of song have been found in several songbird species. There is evidence that such dialects contribute to reproductive isolation through variation in female preference. In the wild, there is no report of consistent dialects in populations of zebra finches. However, under laboratory conditions, we were able to artificially create different colony‐wide song dialects. In this species, song plays a crucial role in mate choice and the importance of both subadult and adult song experience in shaping song preferences has been well documented. Therefore, we expected females to prefer songs corresponding to their colony's dialect. We measured this preference using an operant test: females could either trigger a song corresponding to their Colony Song Type (CST) sang by an unfamiliar individual, or another conspecific song, corresponding to a Non‐Colony Song Type (N‐CST). Most females preferred the CST over the N‐CST, supporting the idea that zebra finch females exhibit a preference for songs similar to their colony's song. It also reveals that song dialects matter to female zebra finches. It has been proposed that song could be used as an affiliative signal in highly social species. Therefore, preferring the colony dialect could be the consequence of a sexual preference, but also of a social preference. We discuss the potential role of song dialects in the context of social learning.

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Consistency of female preference for male song in the domestic canary using two measures: Operant conditioning and vocal response

Cited by 5 publications

References 38 publications

Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion

Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion

Sexual selection for both diversity and repetition in birdsong

Female preference for artificial song dialects in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

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