Social Modulation of Songbird Learning The way that songbirds learn to sing may be a good model of the way humans learn language. One key feature of songbird learning is that it has a strong social component that is, songbirds learn to sing much better by interacting with a live tutor than by listening to taped birdsong. This study examines the parts of the brain that are involved in this learning process.
SOCIAL MODULATION OF LEARNING IN THE SONG SYSTEM
A simple animal model for the acquisition of social behavior is the songbird, which learns to sing in much the same way that humans learn language. In particular, normal song learning is dependent both on hearing the songs of others during a critical period, and on social cues from adults. This study will examine how those social cues (or their absence) change both brain and behavior in adult …