Do songbirds hear songs syllable by syllable?

Mizuhara, Tomoko; Okanoya, Kazuo

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104089

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…However, what is of interest is that middle jumbled also got fewer correct responses than the training stimuli, indicating that the birds were not just relying on the first and last syllables of the syllable sequence (which was suggested by studies on zebra finches (Fishbein et al 2019) and Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica) (Mizuhara and Okanoya 2020)) but also to the sequence of the middle syllables.…”

Section: Cognitive Flexibility In Processing Syllable Phonology and S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

2023

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Zebra finches rely mainly on syllable phonology rather than on syllable sequence when they discriminate between two songs. However, they can also learn to discriminate two strings containing the same set of syllables by their sequence. How learning about the phonological characteristics of syllables and their sequence relate to each other and to the composition of the stimuli is still an open question. We compared whether and how the zebra finches’ relative sensitivity for syllable phonology and syllable sequence depends on the differences between syllable strings. Two groups of zebra finches were trained in a Go-Left/Go-Right task to discriminate either between two strings in which each string contained a unique set of song syllables (‘Different-syllables group’) or two strings in which both strings contained the same set of syllables, but in a different sequential order (‘Same-syllables group’). We assessed to what extent the birds in the two experimental groups attend to the spectral characteristics and the sequence of the syllables by measuring the responses to test strings consisting of spectral modifications or sequence changes. Our results showed no difference in the number of trials needed to discriminate strings consisting of either different or identical sets of syllables. Both experimental groups attended to changes in spectral features in a similar way, but the group for which both training strings consisted of the same set of syllables responded more strongly to changes in sequence than the group for which the training strings consisted of different sets of syllables. This outcome suggests the presence of an additional learning process to learn about syllable sequence when learning about syllable phonology is not sufficient to discriminate two strings. Our study thus demonstrates that the relative importance of syllable phonology and sequence depends on how these features vary among stimuli. This indicates cognitive flexibility in the acoustic features that songbirds might use in their song recognition.

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Section: Cognitive Flexibility In Processing Syllable Phonology and S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

2023

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“…Young male birds learn both syllable structure and a sequence of syllables within the first few weeks of life and sing this sequence of syllables as a motif in their song throughout adulthood (Zann, 1996). Despite this early and precise learning of syllable sequence, recent work has questioned whether finches hear songs syllable by syllable, or as a sequence, or employ some other strategy (Mizuhara & Okanoya, 2020;Seki et al, 2013). Studies using the psychophysical discrimination paradigm employed here have found a surprising lack of sensitivity in zebra finches to the sequence of syllables in a motif which co-exists with a surprisingly strong sensitivity to changes in the acoustic fine structure of individual syllables (Fishbein et al, 2020;Geberzahn & Derégnaucourt, 2020;Lawson et al, 2018;Mol et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sound order discrimination in two species of birds–Taeniopygia guttata and Melopsittacus undulatus.

Stennette¹,

Fishbein²,

Prior³

et al. 2023

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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Recent psychophysical experiments have shown that zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata-a songbird) are surprisingly insensitive to syllable sequence changes in their species-specific motifs while budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus-a psittacine) do much better when tested on exactly the same sounds. This is unexpected since zebra finch males learn the order of syllables in their songs when young and sing the same song throughout adulthood. Here we probe the limits of this species difference by testing birds on an order change involving just two syllables, hereafter called bi-syllable phrases. Results show budgerigars still perform better than zebra finches on an order change involving just two syllables. An analysis of response latencies shows that both species respond to an order change in a bi-syllable motif at the onset of the first syllable rather than listening to the entire sequence before responding. Additional tests with one syllable omitted or doubled, or with white noise bursts substituted for syllables, indicate that the first syllable in the sequence has a dominant effect on subsequent discrimination of changes in a bi-syllable pattern. These results are surprising in that zebra finch males sing their full motif syllable sequence with a high degree of stereotypy throughout life, suggesting that this consistency in production may not rely on perceptual mechanisms for processing syllable order in adulthood. Budgerigars, on the other hand, are quite sensitive to bi-syllable order changes, an ability that may be related to useful information being encoded in the sequence of syllables in their natural song.

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“…Unlike identifying species or individuals, where an objective measure exists of what animal produced a vocalization, the segmental units that comprise animal vocalizations are less well-defined. In comparison to human language, where linguistic units are determined based on their functional role, substantially less is known about the function each vocal unit plays in most species' communication, or even what should define the beginning and ending of a vocal unit (Kershenbaum et al, 2016 ; Mizuhara and Okanoya, 2020 ). Analyses of most animals, therefore, rely on easily discernible physical features of vocalizations.…”

Section: Identifying Segmenting and Labeling Vocalizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Common units of birdsong are notes, corresponding to abrupt changes in frequency, syllables, defined by periods of silence surrounding continuous vocalizations, motifs, stereotyped repetitive combinations of acoustic elements, and phrases, series of stereotyped or commonly associated syllables. Despite the ubiquity with which these terms are used, most vocal units have not been validated in terms of the species' own perceptual system, and those that do, like the Bengalese finch 'syllable' (Mizuhara and Okanoya, 2020 ) call into question the commonly assumed role they play in communication. It is therefore ideal, but not always feasible, to validate decisions about vocal units based upon perceptual, physiological, or functional roles those vocal units play in the animal's communication (Suzuki et al, 2006 ; Kershenbaum et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Identifying Segmenting and Labeling Vocalizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although clustering on latent projections enables an unsupervised extraction of vocal categories from segmental units, latent projections rely on a pre-defined temporal segmentation of acoustic units from the vocal stream. In some species, atomic vocal units can be determined by clearly defined physical features of the signal, like long pauses between syllables, however, even in the case of clearly defined physical features, those units are not necessarily the base units of perception (Mizuhara and Okanoya, 2020 ). An open issue in vocal analysis is the unsupervised temporal segmentation of vocalizations into elements when clear physical boundaries are not available.…”

Section: Extracting Relational Structure and Clusteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Toward a Computational Neuroethology of Vocal Communication: From Bioacoustics to Neurophysiology, Emerging Tools and Future Directions

Sainburg

Gentner

2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Recently developed methods in computational neuroethology have enabled increasingly detailed and comprehensive quantification of animal movements and behavioral kinematics. Vocal communication behavior is well poised for application of similar large-scale quantification methods in the service of physiological and ethological studies. This review describes emerging techniques that can be applied to acoustic and vocal communication signals with the goal of enabling study beyond a small number of model species. We review a range of modern computational methods for bioacoustics, signal processing, and brain-behavior mapping. Along with a discussion of recent advances and techniques, we include challenges and broader goals in establishing a framework for the computational neuroethology of vocal communication.

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Do songbirds hear songs syllable by syllable?

Cited by 7 publications

References 33 publications

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

Sound order discrimination in two species of birds–Taeniopygia guttata and Melopsittacus undulatus.

Toward a Computational Neuroethology of Vocal Communication: From Bioacoustics to Neurophysiology, Emerging Tools and Future Directions

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