Dataset Information

Central contributions to acoustic variation in birdsong.

ABSTRACT: Birdsong is a learned behavior remarkable for its high degree of stereotypy. Nevertheless, adult birds display substantial rendition-by-rendition variation in the structure of individual song elements or "syllables." Previous work suggests that some of this variation is actively generated by the avian basal ganglia circuitry for purposes of motor exploration. However, it is unknown whether and how natural variations in premotor activity drive variations in syllable structure. Here, we recorded from the premotor nucleus robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) in Bengalese finches and measured whether neural activity covaried with syllable structure across multiple renditions of individual syllables. We found that variations in premotor activity were significantly correlated with variations in the acoustic features (pitch, amplitude, and spectral entropy) of syllables in approximately a quarter of all cases. In these cases, individual neural recordings predicted 8.5 +/- 0.3% (mean +/- SE) of the behavioral variation, and in some cases accounted for 25% or more of trial-by-trial variations in acoustic output. The prevalence and strength of neuron-behavior correlations indicate that each acoustic feature is controlled by a large ensemble of neurons that vary their activity in a coordinated manner. Additionally, we found that correlations with pitch (but not other features) were predominantly positive in sign, supporting a model of pitch production based on the anatomy and physiology of the vocal motor apparatus. Collectively, our results indicate that trial-by-trial variations in spectral structure are indeed under central neural control at the level of RA, consistent with the idea that such variation reflects motor exploration.

SUBMITTER: Sober SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2613831 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Central contributions to acoustic variation in birdsong.

Sober Samuel J SJ Wohlgemuth Melville J MJ Brainard Michael S MS

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 20081001 41

Birdsong is a learned behavior remarkable for its high degree of stereotypy. Nevertheless, adult birds display substantial rendition-by-rendition variation in the structure of individual song elements or "syllables." Previous work suggests that some of this variation is actively generated by the avian basal ganglia circuitry for purposes of motor exploration. However, it is unknown whether and how natural variations in premotor activity drive variations in syllable structure. Here, we recorded f ...[more]

PMID: 18842896

Similar Datasets

Project description:Animals select and use habitats based on environmental features relevant to their ecology and behavior. For animals that use acoustic communication, the sound environment itself may be a critical feature, yet acoustic characteristics are not commonly measured when describing habitats and as a result, how habitats vary acoustically over space and time is poorly known. Such considerations are timely, given worldwide increases in anthropogenic noise combined with rapidly accumulating evidence that noise hampers the ability of animals to detect and interpret natural sounds. Here, we used microphone arrays to record the sound environment in three terrestrial habitats (forest, prairie, and urban) under ambient conditions and during experimental noise introductions. We mapped sound pressure levels (SPLs) over spatial scales relevant to diverse taxa to explore spatial variation in acoustic habitats and to evaluate the number of microphones needed within arrays to capture this variation under both ambient and noisy conditions. Even at small spatial scales and over relatively short time spans, SPLs varied considerably, especially in forest and urban habitats, suggesting that quantifying and mapping acoustic features could improve habitat descriptions. Subset maps based on input from 4, 8, 12 and 16 microphones differed slightly (< 2 dBA/pixel) from those based on full arrays of 24 microphones under ambient conditions across habitats. Map differences were more pronounced with noise introductions, particularly in forests; maps made from only 4-microphones differed more (> 4 dBA/pixel) from full maps than the remaining subset maps, but maps with input from eight microphones resulted in smaller differences. Thus, acoustic environments varied over small spatial scales and variation could be mapped with input from 4-8 microphones. Mapping sound in different environments will improve understanding of acoustic environments and allow us to explore the influence of spatial variation in sound on animal ecology and behavior.

Dataset Information

Central contributions to acoustic variation in birdsong.

Publications

Central contributions to acoustic variation in birdsong.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets