Bioacoustics note from the AAAS Science web site:
[Please note: One needs to be a member of the AAAS to gain
access to the AAAS article indicated below.]
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An article related to bioacoustics on 13 May 2005:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/308/5724/1046
Freedom and Rules: The Acquisition and Reprogramming of a Bird's Learned
Song
Timothy J. Gardner,1,2* Felix Naef,2,3,4 Fernando Nottebohm1
Canary song is hierarchically structured: Short stereotyped syllables
are repeated to form phrases, which in turn are arranged to form songs.
This structure occurs even in the songs of young isolates, which
suggests that innate rules govern canary song development. However,
juveniles that had never heard normal song imitated abnormal synthetic
songs with great accuracy, even when the tutor songs lacked phrasing. As
the birds matured, imitated songs were reprogrammed to form typical
canary phrasing. Thus, imitation and innate song constraints are
separate processes that can be segregated in time: freedom in youth,
rules in adulthood.
1 Laboratory of Animal Behavior, Rockefeller University, New York, NY
10021, USA.
2 Laboratory of Mathematical Physics, Rockefeller University, New York,
NY 10021, USA.
3 Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, CH-1066 Epalinges,
Switzerland.
4 Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, CH-1066 Epalinges, Switzerland.
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Al Aburto Jr.
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