ArticleScientific reports2020
Statistical learning for vocal sequence acquisition in a songbird.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Language-like properties in the vocal behavior of animals.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2026Review
- A shared predictive architecture in the sensory cortex for statistical and reward-based learning.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2026Review
- A species rules syntax model accurately organizes birdsong syllables into songs.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Temporal organization of song modulates vocal learning.iScience · 2025Article
- The Temporal Organization of Learned Vocal Behavior Is Predicted by Species Rather Than Experience.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- The role of conscious attention in auditory statistical learning: Evidence from patients with impaired consciousness.iScience · 2025Article
- Note similarities affect syntactic stability in zebra finches.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2025Article
- Goal-directed and flexible modulation of syllable sequence within birdsong.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Long-Horizon Associative Learning Explains Human Sensitivity to Statistical and Network Structures in Auditory Sequences.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Preparing to sing: respiratory patterns underlying motor readiness for song.Journal of neurophysiology · 2022Article
- The multi-dimensional nature of vocal learning.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Balanced imitation sustains song culture in zebra finches.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Like Father Like Son: Cultural and Genetic Contributions to Song Inheritance in an Estrildid Finch.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Birdsong is a learned communicative behavior that consists of discrete acoustic elements ("syllables") that are sequenced in a controlled manner. While the learning of the acoustic structure of syllables has been extensively studied, relatively little is known about sequence learning in songbirds. Statistical learning could contribute to the acquisition of vocal sequences, and we investigated the nature and extent of sequence learning at various levels of song organization in the Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata var. domestica. We found that, under semi-natural conditions, pupils (sons) significantly reproduced the sequence statistics of their tutor's (father's) songs at multiple levels of organization (e.g., syllable repertoire, prevalence, and transitions). For example, the probability of syllable transitions at "branch points" (relatively complex sequences that are followed by multiple types of transitions) were significantly correlated between the songs of tutors and pupils. We confirmed the contribution of learning to sequence similarities between fathers and sons by experimentally tutoring juvenile Bengalese finches with the songs of unrelated tutors. We also discovered that the extent and fidelity of sequence similarities between tutors and pupils were significantly predicted by the prevalence of sequences in the tutor's song and that distinct types of sequence modifications (e.g., syllable additions or deletions) followed distinct patterns. Taken together, these data provide compelling support for the role of statistical learning in vocal production learning and identify factors that could modulate the extent of vocal sequence learning.
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