Bird Song Part 2 Flashcards
What is ZENK?
A product of immediate early gene (IEG) expression
Where is ZENK expressed when the bird hears its own song
In the song system
Where is ZENK expressed when the bird hears its species specific song?
Areas outside of the song system. Caudiomedial nidopallium (CMN). Caudomedial mesopallium (CMM).
What region of the bird brain has been suggested to contain the neural substrate for memory of the tutor song?
Regions of the caudal forebrain (e.g caudiomedial nidopallium and mesopallium).
Who lesioned the CMN in the bird brain? What did they find happened?
Gobes and Bolhuis (2007).
Lesion impairs the ability to recognise tutor song but does not prevent production of BOS.
CMN performs essential role in the representation of tutor song memory.
Tutor song memory and motor programme for BOS have separate neural representations.
Which study provides support for the acoustic adaptation hypothesis? Who suggests that this study doesn’t support the hypothesis? What was their explanation?
Slabekoorn and den Boer-Visser (2006).
Nemeth and Brumm (2010) - higher minimum frequency a result of having to sing louder.
What three differences were observable between urban and rural Great Tit bird song? Why does this provide support for the acoustic adaptation hypothesis?
Urban songs shorter and faster.
Urban songs tended to contain unusual notes and syllables.
Urban songs had a higher minimum frequency.
Birdsong important for mate attraction and territory defence. Background noise in urban environment means bird has to adapt its song to communicate effectively.
Who studied the time of song onset of the American Robin in response to artificial lighting?
Miller (2006)
What records did Miller (2006) examine?
Notes of bird watchers in Lyon Park (Baltimore) on the onset of the dawn chorus of the American Robin from 1929 and 2003.
How much earlier was the dawn chorus of the American Robin advanced in 2003 compared to 1929?
Up to two hours.
How does proximity to street lighting affect reproductive success in birds? (Two reasons)
- Advances in timing of courtship song affecting timing of reproductive behaviour - may cause females to lay eggs earlier, potentially resulting in a mismatch between timing of peak food demand for chicks and peak food availability.
- Young males singing and reproducing earlier than they would ordinarily do. Timing of dawn song quality indicator to females. Earliest singing males targeted for extra-pair copulation. Young males singing earlier more attractive to females. Potential maladaptive mate choice.
What is an auditory-error based reinforcement signal?
A neural signal that informs the vocal motor circuits if the recent vocalisation was ‘good’ (and should therefore be reinforced), or ‘bad’ (and should therefore be eliminated).
What was Gadagkar et al’s (2006) hypothesis on bird reward prediction error?
A singing bird evaluates it’s own song to compute an auditory-error based reinforcement signal that guide learning
Summarised his reward prediction error system might work
Schultz (2016)
Studied activity of dopamine neurons in VTA which project to Area X
Gadagkar et al (2016).
