The roles of vocal and visual interactions in social learning zebra finches: A video playback experiment

Guillette, Lauren M.; Healy, Susan D.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2016.12.009

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Using video playbacks of female finches as stimuli enabled us to achieve precise experimental control over displays that could serve as social reinforcement. Zebra finches are known to learn from and sing to videos of conspecifics [22,23]. Subjects consisted of nine pairs of juvenile zebra finch genetic brothers raised by their respective parents until 35 days post-hatch (dph), the beginning of the sensorimotor song practice phase ( Figure 1A), when each brother was placed in a sound attenuated chamber equipped with a video monitor and camera ( Figure 1B) and randomly assigned to an experimental contingent condition (CC) or yoked control (YC) condition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Social Feedback Reveals Non-imitative Mechanisms of Vocal Learning in Zebra Finches

Carouso-Peck

Goldstein

2019

Current Biology

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Graphical AbstractHighlights d Imitation, not social factors, is thought to drive zebra finch song learning d We tested whether non-vocal visual feedback from females affects song learning d Song learning was facilitated by contingent feedback; yoked controls did not learn d Socially guided vocal learning is a crucial mechanism of song development In BriefThe zebra finch is the most common model of human speech development but, unlike humans, is thought to learn only via imitation. Carouso-Peck and Goldstein show that song learning is affected by non-vocal, visual feedback from females. Young males given feedback contingent on their immature songs developed higher-quality songs than yoked controls.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Social Feedback Reveals Non-imitative Mechanisms of Vocal Learning in Zebra Finches

Carouso-Peck

Goldstein

2019

Current Biology

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“…This was placed at a ca.45° angle on the floor of the test box (by leaning it against a small piece of adhesive putty (Blu-tack®), and was 15 x 15 mm (to enhance visibility in the video). To ensure a highly visible disgust response, and to minimize heterogeneity among demonstrators 53 , we made the prey item as distasteful as possible by soaking the almond piece in a saturated solution of 4 g chloroquine phosphate and 30 ml of water for 1 h before being left to dry. Videos consisted of the demonstrator perching next to the prey item, before taking it in its beak to the box's perch.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social transmission of avoidance among predators facilitates the spread of novel prey

2017

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Warning signals are an effective defence strategy for aposematic prey, but only if they are recognized by potential predators. If predators must eat prey to associate novel warning signals with unpalatability, how can aposematic prey ever evolve? Using experiments with great tits (Parus major) as predators, we show that social transmission enhances the acquisition of avoidance by a predator population. Observing another predator's disgust towards tasting one novel conspicuous prey item led to fewer aposematic than cryptic prey being eaten for the predator population to learn. Despite reduced personal encounters with unpalatable prey, avoidance persisted and increased over subsequent trials. Next we use a mathematical model to show that social transmission can shift the evolutionary trajectory of prey populations from fixation of crypsis to fixation of aposematism more easily than was previously thought. Therefore, social information use by predators has the potential to have evolutionary consequences across ecological communities.

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“…Here, we investigated variation in vocal performance across conditions that are known to modulate the motivation to produce courtship song. Video playbacks of social stimuli have been used to elicit a wide range social behaviours (Evans and Marler, 1991; Fleishman and Endler, 2000; Gonçalves et al, 2000; Guillette and Healy, 2017; Oliveira et al, 1999; Ophir et al, 2005; Ord et al, 2002; Rosenthal, 1999; Uetz and Roberts, 2002; Ware et al, 2016), including courtship song in songbirds (Galoch and Bischof, 2007; Ikebuchi and Okanoya, 1999; Takahasi et al, 2005). Despite that videos can elicit courtship song, male songbirds have been found to sing less to videos of females than to live presentations of females (Ikebuchi and Okanoya, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural responses to video and live presentations of females reveal a dissociation between performance and motivational aspects of birdsong

James

Fan

Sakata

2019

Preprint

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Behavioural responses to video and live presentations4 of females reveal a dissociation between performance 5 and motivational aspects of birdsong 6 7 8 9 ABSTRACT 29Understanding the regulation of social behavioural expression requires insight into 30 motivational and performance aspects of social behaviours. While a number of studies 31 have independently investigated motivational or performance aspects of social 32 behaviours, few have examined how these aspects relate to each other. By comparing 33 behavioural variation in response to live or video presentations of conspecific females, 34we analysed how variation in the motivation to produce courtship song covaries with 35 variation in performance aspects of courtship song in male zebra finches (Taeniopygia 36 guttata). Consistent with previous reports, we observed that male zebra finches were 37 less motivated to produce courtship songs to videos of females than to live 38 presentations of females. However, we found that acoustic features that reflect song 39 performance were indistinguishable between songs produced to videos of females and 40 songs produced to live presentations of females. For example, songs directed at video 41 presentations of females were just as fast and stereotyped as songs directed at live 42 females. These experimental manipulations and correlational analyses reveal a 43 dissociation between motivational and performance aspects of birdsong and suggest a 44 refinement of neural models of song production and control. In addition, they support 45 the efficacy of videos to study both motivational and performance aspects of social 46 behaviours. 47 48The extent and quality of various social displays, including communicative and 53 courtship behaviours, reflect an individual's motivation and performance. Motivation 54 refers to the "drive" to display a behaviour whereas performance refers to the fine 55 motoric aspects of the behaviour. For example, internal and external states can affect 56 the likelihood of displaying maternal behaviours (e.g., pup retrieval and grooming), and 57 the latency and efficiency of pup-directed behaviours can vary between individuals as 58 well as within individuals over time (Champagne et al., 2003; Clark et al., 2002; 59 Stolzenberg et al., 2012). Both the motivation to engage in maternal behaviours and the 60 performance of various components of maternal behaviour have important 61 developmental consequences, and such findings highlight the importance of 62 investigating both motivation and performance to gain a comprehensive understanding 63 of social behaviour (Meaney, 2001; Rilling and Young, 2014). However, motivation and 64 performance are often studied independently, and relatively little is known about the 65 relationship between mechanisms regulating motivational and performance aspects of 66 behaviour. In particular, little is known about the extent to which factors that affect the 67 motivation to display a behaviour similarly affect the performance of the behaviour. 68 69Birdsong provides an ...

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The roles of vocal and visual interactions in social learning zebra finches: A video playback experiment

Cited by 15 publications

References 41 publications

Female Social Feedback Reveals Non-imitative Mechanisms of Vocal Learning in Zebra Finches

Female Social Feedback Reveals Non-imitative Mechanisms of Vocal Learning in Zebra Finches

Social transmission of avoidance among predators facilitates the spread of novel prey

Behavioural responses to video and live presentations of females reveal a dissociation between performance and motivational aspects of birdsong

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