ArticlePloS one2013
Social brains in context: lesions targeted to the song control system in female cowbirds affect their social network.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Auditory pallial regulation of the social behavior network.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Slow and steady: auditory features for discriminating animal vocalizations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Forebrain nuclei linked to woodpecker territorial drum displays mirror those that enable vocal learning in songbirds.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- Reciprocal processes of sensory perception and social bonding: an integrated social-sensory framework of social behavior.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2022Review
- Cognition and reproductive success in cowbirds.Learning & behavior · 2022Article
- Female signal jamming in a socially monogamous brood parasite.Animal behaviour · 2021Article
- Inhibition within a premotor circuit controls the timing of vocal turn-taking in zebra finches.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Monogamy without parental care? Social and genetic mating systems of avian brood parasites.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Female vocalizations predict reproductive output in brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater).PloS one · 2018Article
- The sensory substrate of multimodal communication in brown-headed cowbirds: are females sensory 'specialists' or 'generalists'?Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2017Article
- Associations Between Environmental Resources and the "Wanting" and "Liking" of Male Song in Female Songbirds.Integrative and comparative biology · 2017Review
- The Forebrain Song System Mediates Predictive Call Timing in Female and Male Zebra Finches.Current biology : CB · 2016Article
- Distribution and Abundance of Glucocorticoid and Mineralocorticoid Receptors throughout the Brain of the Great Tit (Parus major).PloS one · 2016Article
- Anatomically discrete sex differences in neuroplasticity in zebra finches as reflected by perineuronal nets.PloS one · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
Social experiences can organize physiological, neural, and reproductive function, but there are few experimental preparations that allow one to study the effect individuals have in structuring their social environment. We examined the connections between mechanisms underlying individual behavior and social dynamics in flocks of brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater). We conducted targeted inactivations of the neural song control system in female subjects. Playback tests revealed that the lesions affected females' song preferences: lesioned females were no longer selective for high quality conspecific song. Instead, they reacted to all cowbird songs vigorously. When lesioned females were introduced into mixed-sex captive flocks, they were less likely to form strong pair-bonds, and they no longer showed preferences for dominant males. This in turn created a cascade of effects through the groups. Social network analyses showed that the introduction of the lesioned females created instabilities in the social structure: males in the groups changed their dominance status and their courtship patterns, and even the competitive behavior of other female group-mates was affected. These results reveal that inactivation of the song control system in female cowbirds not only affects individual behavior, but also exerts widespread effects on the stability of the entire social system.
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