Effect of auditory stimuli on conditioned vocal behavior of budgerigars

Abstract

The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) is a highly social species and serves as an excellent model of vocal learning and production. This species can be trained to vocalize as a conditioned response using an operant conditioning paradigm. In addition, the birds can be trained to produce different vocalizations in response to different visual signals. Budgerigars may be fairly unique in the capability for vocal production under operant control. Whether acoustic features of the bird’s natural social milieu can influence this conditioned vocal output is uncertain. The present study asked whether conditioned vocal behavior in budgerigars can be influenced by hearing vocalizations of other birds. The results show that birds vocalizing under operant control produced louder calls in the presence of vocalizations from other birds, than in pure tones or in quiet. The acoustic variation of the conditioned vocalization also increased when it in the context of hearing other bird’s calls. These results reveal a functional connection between the vocal production under operant control and the perceptual mechanisms subserving vocal production in the budgerigars’ natural social milieu.

Field-based hearing measurements of two seabird species

“…Much of what is known about hearing in birds comes from behavioral studies, often using time-and training-intensive operant conditioning methods on birds from laboratory colonies (Dooling, 1992;Okanoya and Dooling, 1987;Powell et al, 2018;Seki and Dooling, 2016). The auditory evoked potential (AEP) method has been used as an alternative and rapid physiological method to measure hearing (Brittan-Powell et al, 2002).…”

The Skinner Box Evolving to Detect Movement and Vocalization

“…Once calls are under the control of food reinforcement, the calls can be controlled by visual and auditory stimuli (Cleaveland & Manabe, 2010;Manabe, 1997;Manabe, Dooling, & Brittan-Powell, 2008;Manabe et al, 1995;Osmanski & Dooling, 2009;Seki & Dooling, 2016). Such automated systems make it possible to use vocalizations even as sample responses in matching-to-sample tasks (Manabe et al, 1995).…”