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Comment
. 2000 Mar 28;97(7):2965-7.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.97.7.2965.

Singing in the brain

P Marler  1 , A J Doupe
Affiliations
Comment

Singing in the brain

P Marler et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The winter wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, has one of the most elaborate bird songs. A male has a repertoire of 5–10 song types, each up to 10 sec in duration. Song types share many phrases, patterned in different sequences, as in these three songs of male 1 (1 A–C). Male 2 (2A), a neighbor, shares some phrases, but arranges them differently (54).
Figure 2
Figure 2
A schematic cross section of the songbird brain depicting the traditionally defined song system and associated auditory areas. A network of discrete areas is devoted to song learning and production: the “motor pathway” (in black) is required throughout life for normal song production; the anterior forebrain circuit (in blue) is more important for song learning and plasticity. The NCM is one of the interconnected telecephalic auditory areas (in red), including the thalamorecipient area field L, that project directly and indirectly to the song system. For song system abbreviations, see Brenowitz et al. (3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Audition plays a double role in song development, for birds to hear a tutor and to listen to their own voices. At the top are normal songs of adult male swamp and song sparrows (Melospiza georgiana and M. melodia). Males raised in isolation with no song stimulation have simpler songs. Songs of males raised in isolation but tutored with tape-recorded song during the sensitive period are normal. The inset shows one syllable of the swamp sparrow tutor song. The song sparrow tutor was the normal song shown above. Much more amorphous songs are developed by males deafened before song production (55, 56). Highly degraded songs are produced after early deafening, whether the bird was tutored beforehand or not (23). Thus auditory feedback is necessary for production of both normal song and isolate song. Frequencies are marked in 1-kHz intervals. The time marker is 0.5 sec.
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Comment on

References

    1. Kroodsma D E. Acoustic Communication in Birds, Vol. 2: Song Learning and Its Consequence. New York: Academic; 1982. pp. 1–23.
    1. Marler P. Trends Neurosci. 1991;14:199–206. - PubMed
    1. Brenowitz E A, Margoliash D, Nordeen K W. J Neurobiol. 1997;33:495–500. - PubMed
    1. Nottebohm F, Stokes T M, Leonard C M. J Comp Neurol. 1976;165:457–486. - PubMed
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