Infants learn language with remarkable speed, but how they do it remains a mystery. New
data show that infants use computational strategies to detect the statistical and prosodic …

▪ Abstract Human speech and birdsong have numerous parallels. Both humans and
songbirds learn their complex vocalizations early in life, exhibiting a strong dependence on …

A proposal for a fully post-phrenological neuroscience that details the evolutionary roots of
functional diversity in brain regions and networks. The computer analogy of the mind has …

Infants acquire language with remarkable speed, although little is known about the
mechanisms that underlie the acquisition process. Studies of the phonetic units of language …

I advance the hypothesis that the earliest phases of language acquisition–the
developmental transition from an initial universal state of language processing to one that is …

Twenty years ago Pepperberg set out to discover whether large-brained, highly social
parrots were capable of mastering complex cognitive concepts and the rudiments of …

Song imitation in birds provides good material for studying the basic biology of vocal
learning. Techniques were developed for inducing the rapid onset of song imitation in young …

In this review, we place equal emphasis on production, usage, and comprehension because
these components of communication may exhibit different developmental trajectories and be …

Songbirds, long of interest to basic neuroscience, have great potential as a model system for
translational neuroscience. Songbirds learn their complex vocal behavior in a manner that …

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 …