Birdsong articles from across Nature Portfolio

Learning song from two ‘tutors’ at different points in development permanently alters neural activity in auditory processing and learning regions in zebra finches.

In songbird, thalamus drives a small population of premotor neurons to initiate transitions between song syllables.

Increased movement is associated with improved vocal activity in young zebra finches, while reducing locomotion leads to poor vocal learning. These results suggest that exercise in juvenile birds may actually promote their ability to learn and produce songs.

In male zebra finches, song practice and courtship song performance are associated with distinct patterns of neural activity in the basal ganglia, resulting in reduced vocal variability during performance.

Wan-Chun Liu et al. demonstrate that the sensory phase of vocal learning in zebra finches is split across two stages: (1) passive listening and formation of a memory, and (2) active listening and behavioral engagement of juveniles with adult tutors. Furthermore, they show that approach behavior is correlated with song imitation quality, and immediate early gene expression in the caudal medial nidopallium linked to auditory behavior.

Disruption of FOXP2 cause Childhood Apraxia of Speech, a speech disorder marked by difficulties in accurately sequencing vocal motor actions. The authors show that disruption of FoxP2 in the adult songbird similarly disrupts birdsong and link dopaminergic signalling to disruptions in song production.