Figure 1 | Timeline for zebra finch song learning.   Young birds first memorize the song of an adult 'tutor' during a critical period for 'sensory' learning of song. Later, during a 'sensorimotor' learning period, they begin to sing and gradually match their initially immature vocalizations to the memorized song using auditory feedback. After this learning process, adult song normally remains unchanging, or 'crystallized'. For zebra finches, as for humans, the periods of sensory and sensorimotor learning overlap³. Many other species, such as the white-crowned sparrow, do not crystallize song until close to one year of age, and have a much clearer separation between the sensory and sensorimotor learning periods⁴. Still other species, such as the canary, seem to reiterate the processes of sensory and sensorimotor learning each season, perhaps under the regulation of seasonal variability in hormone levels²³.

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