Social Learning of Vocal Patterns and Modes of their Application in Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus)1,2,3

Todt, Dietmar

doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1975.tb00907.x

Cited by 121 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…One of the more immediate conceptual needs is for a taxonomy of the kinds and degrees of social influence identified. Social influence ranges from the effects of song stimulation presented by tape recording to the effects of live, interacting tutors, which may be the student's father, sibling, mother, neighbor, consort, or rival (Baptista & Petrinovich, 1984Eales, 1985Eales, , 1987Marler, Dufty, & Pickert, 1986;Marler et aI., 1972;Payne, 1981Payne, , 1982Pep perberg, 1985;Price, 1979;Todt, 1975;Todt, Hultsch, & Heike, 1979).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presence of female cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) affects vocal imitation and improvisation in males.

King¹,

West²

1989

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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In this article we report that imitation and improvisation of tutor songs by eastern male cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) differs when they are housed with conspecific females as opposed to nonconspecifics. When males, tutored with 12 different song types, were individually housed with females, they developed repertoires composed primarily of improvised and original song types, whereas the repertoires of males housed with canaries were composed entirely of copies of the tutor songs. Song preferences of the female companions for individual tutor songs were unaffected by social housing. The potency of the males' repertoires, as tested by playback to females, appeared to be related to the song responsiveness of their female companions. The results add further evidence that suggests that male cowbirds configure their song repertoire by attending to social signals from companions.In this experiment we asked three questions. First, do male cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) housed with females show different patterns of vocal imitation than males housed with canaries? Second, is the males' imitative behavior related to differences in song responsiveness of females? Third, are females' song preferences affected by the vocal behavior of the males? Different forms of social stimulation have different effects on vocal development in songbirds (Pepperberg, 1985; Petri novich, 1988). White-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leuco phrys), for example, can learn heterospecific songs after 50 days of age when exposed to live male tutors but not when exposed to tape recordings (Baptista & Petrinovich, 1984;Petrinovich, 1985). So too, red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) copy less heterospecific song when in the presence of female, as opposed to male, conspecifics (Marler, Mundin ger, Waser, & Lutjen, 1972). Thus, social stimulation, as well as acoustic stimulation, appears to mediate vocal learning, although how these sources of stimulation are integrated remains to be specified.Because female cowbirds do not sing, they provide an opportunity to study the effects of social stimulation in the absence of species-typical song stimulation. Several lines of evidence suggest that females exert discernible effects on males' vocal ontogeny. First, although juvenile eastern males learned nonnative song variants when housed with males from a second cowbird subspecies, M. a. obscurus, adult eastern males copied nonnative variants only when housed with males and females of the second subspecies (West, King, & Harrocks, 1983 subspecies. The structural differences in the males' songs involved acoustic elements used by females to discriminate between songs of the, two subspecies (King & West, 1983b, 1983cWest & King, 1985). Third, the subsongs and plastic songs of yearling males displayed different characteristics when eastern males were housed with M. a. ater rather than M. a. obscurus females, which suggests that the females' presence had effects early in ontogeny (King & West, 1988b). Thus, the aim of this investigation was to study the ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presence of female cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) affects vocal imitation and improvisation in males.

King¹,

West²

1989

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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“…With this as a reference, a classical but often neglected hypothesis may be of interest. It refers to the song learning of birds and assumes that this accomplishment reflects a strategy which prepares a young male for the contests he might have to face later in life (Todt 1975(Todt , 1981. In other words, a young male will benefit from a song memory which contains information about any song pattern a possible rival can sing It seems that this advantage also plays a role in the vocal imitation learning of parrots (Pepperberg 1999).…”

Section: Large Song Repertoiresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cetaceans and bats (Boughman 1997, Janik andSlater 1997), and for songbirds and a few other avian taxa, namely parrots (Todt 1975, Pepperberg 1999) and hummingbirds Schuchmann 1990, Jarvis et al 2000). With the exception of birds, systematic studies on this issue are rare (review in Hultsch and Todt 2004a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From birdsong to speech: a plea for comparative approaches

Todt

2004

An. Acad. Bras. Ciênc.

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Human language and speech are unique accomplishments. Nevertheless, they share a number of characteristics with other systems of communication, and investigators have thus compared them to birdsong and the vocal signaling of nonhuman primates. Particular interesting parallels concern the development of singing and speaking. These behaviors rely on auditory perception, subsequent memorization and finally, the generation of vocal imitations. Several mechanisms help young individuals to deal with the various challenges during the time of signal development. Specific differences aside, astounding parallels can be found also in how a human and a particularly accomplished bird like the Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos treat the experience of many different sound patterns or songs. As a consequence of such exposure, both human infants and young birds eventually acquire large repertoires of verbal or vocal signals. These achievements, however, require access to specific memory mechanisms which are well adapted to the purposes they serve, thereby allowing them to fulfil their species typical roles. With such aspects as a reference, birdsong is an excellent biological model for memory research and also an appropriate system for the study of evolutionary strategies in a very successful class of organisms.

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“…Our primary system, called the model/rival, or M/R, approach, is based on a protocol developed by Todt (1975), which in turn derives much from Bandura (1971) and Mowrer (1960). In this procedure, humans demonstrate to the parrot the types of interactive responses desired.…”

Section: Training Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…", and is then required to formulate a vocal English response. Trials are conducted by secondary trainers hired exclusively for that task to lessen the possibility of cuing (Pepperberg, 1981), and to keep the bird from applying its knowledge to maintain a bond with the principal trainer to the exclusion of other humans (Mowrer, 19S2;Todt, 1975). The principal trainer is present, but sits in a corner of the room, does not look at the bird during the presentation of the test object, and therefore does not know what is being presented.…”

Section: Test Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognition in the African Grey parrot: Preliminary evidence for auditory/vocal comprehension of the class concept

Pepperberg

1983

Animal Learning & Behavior

204

112

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Social Learning of Vocal Patterns and Modes of their Application in Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus)^1,^2,³

Cited by 121 publications

References 12 publications

Presence of female cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) affects vocal imitation and improvisation in males.

Presence of female cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) affects vocal imitation and improvisation in males.

From birdsong to speech: a plea for comparative approaches

Cognition in the African Grey parrot: Preliminary evidence for auditory/vocal comprehension of the class concept

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