The “Mute” Sex Revisited: Vocal Production and Perception Learning in Female Songbirds

Riebel, Katharina

doi:10.1016/s0065-3454(03)33002-5

Cited by 158 publications

(126 citation statements)

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“…But there are many bird species in which females sing as much as males (Langmore, 1998;Riebel, 2003) and some human cultures in which conspicuous musical performances are limited mainly to males (Titon et al, 1984). Although it does appear to be the case that only male whales sing (Croll et al, 2002;Payne & Payne, 1985), and it is clear that most of the birdsong in temperate regions is performed by males, female song and duetting is much more common in poorly studied tropical species.…”

Section: Are Human and Animal Song Analogous?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bird ''song'' has traditionally been differentiated from other avian vocalizations (''calls'') by its complexity and, in songbirds, by the fact that it is learned (Catchpole & Slater, 1995;Langmore, 1998;Riebel, 2003). Other factors such as seasonality (e.g., singing in the spring), function (e.g., defending a territory) or sex differences (singing mostly by males) are also associated with, but not diagnostic of, song.…”

Section: Bird Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the clear fact that singing is done mainly by males in many species, there is a growing realization of the importance of female singing (Langmore, 1998) and of female perceptual learning (e.g., to differentiate among singing males (Riebel, 2003)). It appears that the traditional assumption that only males sing results partly from historical accident: in temperate regions, male singing is the norm, but in tropical species, both duetting and solo female song increasingly appear to be common or even typical (Morton, 1996).…”

Section: Bird Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

2006

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Studies of the biology of music (as of language) are highly interdisciplinary and demand the integration of diverse strands of evidence. In this paper, I present a comparative perspective on the biology and evolution of music, stressing the value of comparisons both with human language, and with those animal communication systems traditionally termed ''song''. A comparison of the ''design features'' of music with those of language reveals substantial overlap, along with some important differences. Most of these differences appear to stem from semantic, rather than structural, factors, suggesting a shared formal core of music and language. I next review various animal communication systems that appear related to human music, either by analogy (bird and whale ''song'') or potential homology (great ape bimanual drumming). A crucial comparative distinction is between learned, complex signals (like language, music and birdsong) and unlearned signals (like laughter, ape calls, or bird calls). While human vocalizations clearly build upon an acoustic and emotional foundation shared with other primates and mammals, vocal learning has evolved independently in our species since our divergence with chimpanzees. The convergent evolution of vocal learning in other species offers a powerful window into psychological and neural constraints influencing the evolution of complex signaling systems (including both song and speech), while ape drumming presents a fascinating potential homology with human instrumental music. I next discuss the archeological data relevant to music evolution, concluding on the basis of prehistoric bone flutes that instrumental music is at least 40,000 years old, and perhaps much older. I end with a brief review of adaptive functions proposed for music, concluding that no one selective force (e.g., sexual selection) is adequate to explaining all aspects of human music. I suggest that questions about ARTICLE IN PRESSthe past function of music are unlikely to be answered definitively and are thus a poor choice as a research focus for biomusicology. In contrast, a comparative approach to music promises rich dividends for our future understanding of the biology and evolution of music.

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Section: Are Human and Animal Song Analogous?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bird Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bird Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

2006

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“…Whether the former can be explained as the heritable components of neuro-sensory organs and might be immune to experience, the latter explains preferences that arise by comparing prospective mates against internal standards often acquired by experience. For example, in many birds (review by Riebel, 2003Riebel, , 2009) and some spiders (Hebets, 2003), female preferences are influenced by early experience, whereas in several rodents they are affected by male familiarity: in some species familiar males are preferred over unfamiliar males (e.g. Harvest mice, Mycromys minutes, Brandt and Macdonald, 2011), in others species the opposite pattern is observed (e.g.…”

Section: Variation In Preference Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Castellano

Cadeddu

Cermelli

2012

Behavioural Processes

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a b s t r a c tThe present review is based on the thesis that mate choice results from information-processing mechanisms governed by computational rules and that, to understand how females choose their mates, we should identify which are the sources of information and how they are used to make decisions. We describe mate choice as a three-step computational process and for each step we present theories and review empirical evidence. The first step is a perceptual process. It describes the acquisition of evidence, that is, how females use multiple cues and signals to assign an attractiveness value to prospective mates (the preference function hypothesis). The second step is a decisional process. It describes the construction of the decision variable (DV), which integrates evidence (private information by direct assessment), priors (public information), and value (perceived utility) of prospective mates into a quantity that is used by a decision rule (DR) to produce a choice. We make the assumption that females are optimal Bayesian decision makers and we derive a formal model of DV that can explain the effects of preference functions, mate copying, social context, and females' state and condition on the patterns of mate choice. The third step of mating decision is a deliberative process that depends on the DRs. We identify two main categories of DRs (absolute and comparative rules), and review the normative models of mate sampling tactics associated to them. We highlight the limits of the normative approach and present a class of computational models (sequential-sampling models) that are based on the assumption that DVs accumulate noisy evidence over time until a decision threshold is reached. These models force us to rethink the dichotomy between comparative and absolute decision rules, between discrimination and recognition, and even between rational and irrational choice. Since they have a robust biological basis, we think they may represent a useful theoretical tool for behavioural ecologist interested in integrating proximate and ultimate causes of mate choice.

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“…How do individuals develop the selectivity to interact preferentially with conspecifics? Several developmental mechanisms can produce such assortative preferences, ranging from a fully genetically controlled development to fully environmentally determined preferences (Shaw 2000;Riebel 2003). Some of these mechanisms, however, will not produce assortative behaviour in all circumstances, while other mechanisms may particularly easily produce species-assortative interactions under many circumstances (Dieckmann and Doebeli 1999;Servedio 2000;Arnegard and Kondrashov 2004;van Doorn et al 2004;Beltman and Metz 2005;Verzijden et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Females learn from mothers and males learn from others. The effect of mother and siblings on the development of female mate preferences and male aggression biases in Lake Victoria cichlids, genus Mbipia

Verzijden

Korthof

Cate

2008

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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While species-assortative behaviour is often observed in sympatrically occurring species, there are few examples where we understand the extent to which development of assortative behaviour is genetically or environmentally determined, for instance, through learning. However, the majority of mate choice theory assumes genetic recognition mechanisms. Knowledge about the development of species recognition is important for our understanding of how closely related species can coexist and how this coexistence may have arisen. The ontogeny of female mate choice, for instance, may critically influence the degree of assortative mating under many circumstances. Also, male assortative aggression behaviour may affect fitness and the possibility for coexistence of two closely related species. Here, we test whether male aggression biases and female mate preferences of two Lake Victoria rock cichlid species, Mbipia mbipi and Mbipia lutea, are affected by experience. With an interspecific cross-fostering experiment, we test for the effect of experience with the phenotype of the mother and that of the siblings on speciesassortative mate preferences and aggression biases. We demonstrate that female mate preferences are strongly influenced by learning about their mothers' phenotype but not by experience with their siblings, despite ample opportunity for interactions. Male aggression biases, in contrast, are affected by experience with siblings but not by learning about their mothers' phenotype. We suggest that the development of assortative behaviour of females, but not of males, creates favourable conditions for sympatric speciation in Lake Victoria cichlids.

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The “Mute” Sex Revisited: Vocal Production and Perception Learning in Female Songbirds

Cited by 158 publications

References 140 publications

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Females learn from mothers and males learn from others. The effect of mother and siblings on the development of female mate preferences and male aggression biases in Lake Victoria cichlids, genus Mbipia

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