The development of stimulus-specific auditory responses requires song exposure in male but not female zebra finches.
Juvenile male zebra finches develop their song by imitation. Females do not sing but are attracted to males' songs. With functional magnetic resonance imaging and event-related potentials we tested how early auditory experience shapes responses in the auditory forebrain of the adult bird. Adult male birds kept in isolation over the sensitive period for song learning showed no consistency in auditory responses to conspecific songs, calls, and syllables. Thirty seconds of song playback each day over development, which is sufficient to induce song imitation, was also sufficient to shape stimulus-specific responses. Strikingly, adult females kept in isolation over development showed responses similar to those of males that were exposed to songs. We suggest that early auditory experience with songs may be required to tune perception toward conspecific songs in males, whereas in females song selectivity develops even without prior exposure to song.
Maul
Kristen K
KK
Department of Biology, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, USA. kmaul@ccny.cuny.edu
Voss
Henning U
HU
Parra
Lucas C
LC
Salgado-Commissariat
Delanthi
D
Ballon
Douglas
D
Tchernichovski
Ofer
O
Helekar
Santosh A
SA
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D046369:Finches / Q000502:physiology*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012934:Social Isolation; D013997:Time Factors; D014828:Vocalization, Animal