Wild nightingales flexibly match whistle pitch in real time

Costalunga, Giacomo; Carpena, Carolina Sánchez; Seltmann, Susanne; Benichov, Jonathan I.; Vallentin, Daniela

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.044

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…We cannot distinguish the overt planning we find from a more complex use-and-experience dependent forgetting, since we only probed for recovery of pitch and did not attempt to push birds into planning pitch shifts further away from baseline. Evidence for more flexible planning is provided by the pitch matching skills of nightingales (3). Interestingly, although nightingales can reach without practice even distant pitch targets, the targets in (3) were also located within the extent of nightingale’s recent song practice, so also satisfied d ′ ≃ 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence for more flexible planning is provided by the pitch matching skills of nightingales (3). Interestingly, although nightingales can reach without practice even distant pitch targets, the targets in (3) were also located within the extent of nightingale’s recent song practice, so also satisfied d ′ ≃ 1. Perhaps then, our two-stage model of song plasticity of planning and consolidation in Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such planning can be covert or overt. Evidence for covert planning is manifest when a targeted motor change is executed without intermittent practice (3), e.g., when we instantly imitate a word upon first hearing. Overt planning, by contrast, includes practice, but without access to the sensory experience from which target mismatch could be computed, e.g., when we practice a piano piece by tapping on a table.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird

Zai

Stepien

Cavé-Lopez

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Songbirds' vocal mastery is impressive, but to what extent is it a result of practice? Can they, similar to humans, plan targeted changes to their songs in a practice-free manner without intermittently singing? In adult zebra finches, we drive the pitch of a song syllable away from its stable (baseline) variant acquired from a tutor, then we withdraw reinforcement and subsequently deprive them of song experience by muting or deafening. In this deprived state, birds do not recover their baseline song. However, they revert their songs towards the target by about one standard deviation of their recent practice, provided the latter signaled a pitch mismatch with the target. Thus, targeted vocal plasticity does not require immediate sensory experience, showing that zebra finches are capable of goal-directed vocal planning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird

Zai

Stepien

Cavé-Lopez

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Song is composed of discrete elements, called syllables, that are organized according to syntactic rules. The complexity of song syntax varies widely across different songbird species – from the simple and repetitive songs of owl finches ( Wang et al, 2019 ) and zebra finches ( Zann, 1996 ) to the variable songs of Bengalese finches ( Honda and Okanoya, 1999 ) and canaries ( Nottebohm et al, 1976 ; Cohen et al, 2020 ) up to the immense repertoire of nightingales ( Hultsch et al, 2004 ; Costalunga et al, 2023 ). The neuronal mechanisms of birdsong production have been primarily studied in the zebra finch, partly by leveraging the structure of zebra finch song, in which syllables are produced in a relatively stereotyped and linear sequence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lesions in a songbird vocal circuit increase variability in song syntax

Koparkar,

Warren,

Charlesworth

et al. 2024

eLife

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Complex motor skills like speech and dance are composed of ordered sequences of simpler elements, but the neuronal basis for syntactic ordering of individual actions into sequences is poorly understood. Birdsong is a learned vocal behavior composed of syntactically ordered sequences of individual syllables. Activity in song premotor nucleus HVC (proper name) has been linked to the control of syllable sequencing, but sequencing may also be affected by its recurrent inputs. We here test the contribution of one of HVC’s inputs, mMAN (medial magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium), to the variable songs of adult male Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica). The syntax of Bengalese song includes several patterns: 1) chunks, where syllables follow stereotypical order 2) branch points, where a given syllable can be followed by two or more different syllables in a probabilistic manner and 3) repeat phrases, where an individual syllable is repeated a variable number of times. We found that after bilateral lesions of mMAN, the acoustic structure of syllables remained largely intact, but sequencing became more variable for each of these patterns, seen by ‘breaks’ in previously stereotyped chunks, increased uncertainty at branch points and increased variability of repeat numbers. This increase in sequencing variability highlights the potential importance of regions projecting to HVC in the ordering of vocal elements. Previous studies on zebra finches found little effect of mMAN lesions on their relatively stereotyped adult song. In contrast, our results suggest that mMAN contributes to sequencing the variable songs of Bengalese finches and highlight the utility of species with more complex song syntax in investigating neuronal control of ordered motor sequences.

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“…Song is composed of discrete elements, called syllables, that are organized according to syntactic rules. The complexity of song syntax varies widely across different songbird species - from the simple and repetitive songs of owl finches (Wang et al ., 2019) and zebra finches (Zann, 1996) to the variable songs of Bengalese finches (Honda and Okanoya, 1999) and canaries (Nottebohm, Stokes and Leonard, 1976; Cohen et al ., 2020) up to the immense repertoire of nightingales (Hultsch et al ., 2004; Costalunga et al ., 2023). The neuronal mechanisms of birdsong production have been primarily studied in the zebra finch, partly by leveraging the structure of zebra finch song, in which syllables are produced in a relatively stereotyped and linear sequence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lesions in a songbird vocal circuit increase variability in song syntax

Koparkar,

Warren,

Charlesworth

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Complex motor skills like speech and dance are composed of ordered sequences of simpler elements, but the neuronal basis for syntactic ordering of individual actions into sequences is poorly understood. Birdsong is a learned vocal behavior composed of syntactically ordered sequences of individual syllables. Activity in song premotor nucleus HVC (proper name) has been linked to the control of syllable sequencing, but sequencing may also be affected by its recurrent inputs. We here test the contribution of one of HVC's inputs, mMAN (medial magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium), to the variable songs of adult male Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica). The syntax of Bengalese song includes several patterns: 1) chunks, where syllables follow stereotypical order 2) branch points, where a given syllable can be followed by two or more different syllables in a probabilistic manner and 3) repeat phrases, where an individual syllable is repeated a variable number of times. We found that after bilateral lesions of mMAN, the acoustic structure of syllables remained largely intact, but sequencing became more variable for each of these patterns, seen by 'breaks' in previously stereotyped chunks, increased uncertainty at branch points and increased variability of repeat numbers. This increase in sequencing variability highlights the potential importance of regions projecting to HVC in the ordering of vocal elements. Previous studies on zebra finches found little effect of mMAN lesions on their relatively stereotyped adult song. In contrast, our results suggest that mMAN contributes to sequencing the variable songs of Bengalese finches and highlight the utility of species with more complex song syntax in investigating neuronal control of ordered motor sequences.

show abstract

Wild nightingales flexibly match whistle pitch in real time

Cited by 9 publications

References 34 publications

Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird

Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird

Lesions in a songbird vocal circuit increase variability in song syntax

Lesions in a songbird vocal circuit increase variability in song syntax

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