Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37528473›Full record

ArticleBiology of sex differences2023

Sex differences in song syntax and syllable diversity in testosterone-induced songs of adult male and female canaries.

Ednei B Dos Santos, Gregory F Ball, David M Logue, Charlotte A Cornil, Jacques Balthazart

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biology of sex differences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Male and female red-cheeked cordon bleus sing similar yet individualistic songs.The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Ednei B Dos SantosLaboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, 15 Avenue Hippocrate (Bat. B36), Sart Tilman, 4000, Liège 1, Belgium.
Gregory F BallProgram in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
David M LogueDepartment of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada.
Charlotte A CornilLaboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, 15 Avenue Hippocrate (Bat. B36), Sart Tilman, 4000, Liège 1, Belgium.
Jacques BalthazartLaboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, 15 Avenue Hippocrate (Bat. B36), Sart Tilman, 4000, Liège 1, Belgium. Jbalthazart@uliege.be.ORCID 0000-0001-9492-2126
University of Liège · BEUniversity of Lethbridge · CAUniversity of Maryland, College Park · US

Funding

Steroid Hormone Regulation of Brain Plasticity and Vocal BehaviorR01NS104008 · NINDS · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI BALL, GREGORY F · 2018 to 2022
$1.5M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS104008NINDS NIH HHS RO1NS104008
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBehavioral sex differences are widespread in the animal world. These differences can be qualitative (i.e., behavior present in one sex but not the other, a true sex dimorphism) or quantitative (behavior is present at a higher rate or quality in one sex compared to the other). Singing in oscine songbirds is associated with both types of differences. In canaries, female rarely sing spontaneously but they can be induced to do so by treatments with steroids. Song in these females is, however, not fully masculinized and exhibits relatively subtle differences in quality as compared with male song. We analyzed here sex differences in syllable content and syllable use between singing male and female canaries.

methodsSongs were recorded from three groups of castrated male and three groups of photoregressed female canaries that had received Silastic™ implants filled with testosterone (T), with T plus estradiol (E2), or left empty (control). After 6 weeks of hormone treatment, 30 songs were recorded from each of the 47 subjects. Songs were segmented and each syllable was annotated. Various metrics of syllable diversity were extracted and network analysis was employed to characterize syllable sequences.

resultsMale and female songs were characterized by marked sex differences related to syllable use. Compared to females, males had a larger syllable-type repertoire and their songs contained more syllable types. Network analysis of syllable sequences showed that males follow more fixed patterns of syllable transitions than females. Both sexes, however, produced song of the same duration containing the same number of syllables produced at similar rates (numbers per second).

conclusionsUnder the influence of T, canaries of both sexes are able to produce generally similar vocalizations that nevertheless differ in specific ways. The development of song during ontogeny appears to be a very sophisticated process that is presumably based on genetic and endocrine mechanisms but also on specific learning processes. These data highlight the importance of detailed behavioral analyses to identify the many dimensions of a behavior that can differ between males and females.

Indexed as

CanariesTestosteroneAnimalsFemaleLearningMaleSex CharacteristicsVocalization, AnimalTestosteroneNetwork analysisSex differencesSong diversitySyllable sequencesTestosterone

Identifiers

PMID37528473
PMCPMC10394978
OpenAlexW4385462175

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.