title: Song learning and cognitive ability are not consistently related in a songbird.
abstract: Learned aspects of song have been hypothesized to signal cognitive ability in songbirds. We tested this hypothesis in hand-reared song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) that were tutored with playback of adult songs during the critical period for song learning. The songs developed by the 19 male subjects were compared to the model songs to produce two measures of song learning: the proportion of notes copied from models and the average spectrogram cross-correlation between copied notes and model notes. Song repertoire size, which reflects song complexity, was also measured. At 1 year of age, subjects were given a battery of five cognitive tests that measured speed of learning in the context of a novel foraging task, color association, color reversal, detour-reaching, and spatial learning. Bivariate correlations between the three song measures and the five cognitive measures revealed no significant associations. As in other studies of avian cognition, different cognitive measures were for the most part not correlated with each other, and this result remained true when 22 hand-reared female song sparrows were added to the analysis. General linear mixed models controlling for effects of neophobia and nest of origin indicated that all three song measures were associated with better performance on color reversal and spatial learning but were associated with worse performance on novel foraging and detour-reaching. Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that learned aspects of song signal cognitive ability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Rindy C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA. wsearcy@miami.edu.
authors.forename: William A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1969-0561
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Searcy
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Adrienne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: DuBois
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nowicki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D020308:Songbirds; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: Cognition; Melospiza melodia; Song complexity; Song learning; Song sparrow; Songbird