Social
brain lights up in juvenile songbirds that find a singing mentor
Date: October 17, 2018
Source: Duke University
Youngsters
learn many important behaviors by imitating adults. But young learners are
selective in who they copy, and scientists don't understand how they choose the
right teacher.
Young
male zebra finches must learn to copy the song of an adult tutor in order to
ultimately attract a mate. Researchers already knew that juveniles don't copy
songs played through a loudspeaker or sung by other species of birds. Now,
findings from Duke University scientists show how the juvenile birds identify
the right teacher.
The
study, which appears early online Oct. 17 in the journal Nature, reveals
that being near a singing tutor activates connections between a social area of
the young bird's brain and the part of the brain responsible for the juvenile's
ability to sing. If those connections aren't activated, a young finch fails to
copy the tutor's song.
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