What songbirds teach us about learning

@article{Brainard2002WhatST,
  title={What songbirds teach us about learning},
  author={Michael S. Brainard and A. J. Doupe},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2002},
  volume={417},
  pages={351-358}
}
Bird fanciers have known for centuries that songbirds learn their songs. This learning has striking parallels to speech acquisition: like humans, birds must hear the sounds of adults during a sensitive period, and must hear their own voice while learning to vocalize. With the discovery and investigation of discrete brain structures required for singing, songbirds are now providing insights into neural mechanisms of learning. Aided by a wealth of behavioural observations and species diversity… Expand
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Publisher Summary The songbird provides a potential laboratory for studying sensorimotor learning on the systems level, which is not well-understood, despite great progress in understanding the role… Expand
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Since the pioneering studies of William Thorpe and Peter Marler, songbirds and their songs have served continuously as an inspirational muse to behavioral biologists (Catchpole and Slater, 2008;… Expand
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