As in humans, song production in birds involves the intricate coordination of at least three
major groups of muscles: namely, those of the syrinx, the respiratory apparatus, and the …

Learning by imitation is essential for transmitting many aspects of human culture, including
speech, language, art, and music. How the human brain enables imitation remains a …

Auditory information is critical for vocal imitation and other elements of social life in
songbirds. In zebra finches, neural centers that are necessary for the acquisition and …

There is increased neuronal firing in the high vocal center (a motor nucleus) and other song
nuclei of canaries, Serinus canaria, and zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, whenever these …

The ZENK gene encodes a zinc-finger-containing transcriptional regulator and can be
rapidly activated in songbird brain by presentation of birdsong (Mello et al., 1992). Here we …

Earlier work showed that playbacks of conspecific song induce expression of the immediate
early gene ZENK in the caudo-medial neostriatum (NCM) of awake male zebra finches and …

High vocal center (HVC) is part of the premotor pathway necessary for song production and
is also a primary source of input to the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP), a basal ganglia …

Auditory responses in the caudomedial neostriatum (NCM) of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia
guttata) forebrain habituate to repeated presentations of a novel conspecific song. This …

In both humans and songbirds, infants learn vocalizations by imitating the sounds of adult
tutors with whom they interact during an early sensitive period. Vocal learning occurs in few …

Songbirds learn and maintain their songs via auditory experience. Neurons in many
telencephalic nuclei important to song production and development are song selective, firing …