title: A simple explanation for the evolution of complex song syntax in Bengalese finches.
abstract: The songs of Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica) have complex syntax and provide an opportunity to investigate how complex sequential behaviour emerges via the evolutionary process. In this study, we suggest that a simple mechanism, i.e. many-to-one mapping from internal states onto syllables, may underlie the emergence of apparent complex syllable sequences that have higher order history dependencies. We analysed the songs of Bengalese finches and of their wild ancestor, the white-rumped munia (L. striata), whose songs are more stereotypical and simpler compared with those of Bengalese finches. The many-to-one mapping mechanism sufficiently accounted for the differences in the complexity of song syllable sequences of these two strains.
authors.affiliation: Center for Evolutionary Cognitive Sciences, The University of Tokyo, , 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katahira
authors.forename: Kenta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kagawa
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okanoya
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D046369:Finches; D008297:Male; D008390:Markov Chains; D015233:Models, Statistical; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013045:Species Specificity; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: Bengalese finch; many-to-one mapping; partially observable Markov model; song syntax; white-rumped munia