The process through which young male songbirds learn the characteristics of the songs of
an adult male of their own species has strong similarities with speech acquisition in human …

Zebra finches are an important model for vocal learning and avian mate choice. The two are
contingent on each other: males' learned songs are addressed at females with learned …

Mate choice studies routinely assume female preferences for indicators of high quality in
males but rarely consider developmental causes of within-population variation in mating …

Culturally transmitted communication signals–such as human language or bird song–can
change over time through cultural drift, and the resulting dialects may consequently enhance …

In almost all songbird species studied males sing, but differences in female song range from
species where females have never been observed to sing to those where females sing as …

In his pioneering research on the neural mechanisms of filial imprinting, Gabriel Horn has
gone a long way to fulfilling Karl Lashley's dream of finding the 'engram'or memory trace in …

The intensity of a signal is crucial for animal communication because a high signal-to-noise
ratio improves signal reception. However, variation in amplitude may also have signalling …

Birdsong is a sexually selected and culturally transmitted multidimensional signal. Sexually
selected traits are generally assumed to indicate condition. In oscine songbirds, song is …

Song acquisition in songbird males is a prominent model system for the study of the brain
mechanisms of memory. Male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) learn their songs from an …

Songbirds, like humans, are highly accomplished vocal learners. The many parallels
between speech and birdsong and conserved features of mammalian and avian auditory …