The Role of Hierarchy Levels in Vocal Imitations of Songbirds

The singing of adult birds shows a clear hierarchical organization and, due to its development through vocal imitation of sound patterns, makes an excellent biological model to examine the variables that influence the imitation of patterns on different hierarchy levels, e.g., songs and elements composing the songs. We studied such variables in the nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), i.e., a species that in the wild uses a large repertoire of songs. Subjects were raised in the lab and tutored by presenting them with a serial learning task, here a sequence of differently patterned songs. Analyses of singing, which the trained subjects performed at the end of their vocal ontogeny, allowed us to uncover hierarchy-related accomplishments and also specific constraints in learning by imitation. Our results showed that an imitation of elements and element sequences reflected a kind of "gestalt" learning, which finally became visible in the form of specific song patterns. An imitation of song sequences, on the ot...

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