Hormonal acceleration of song development in canaries

ALLIENDE J; MENDEZ J; GOLLER F; MINDLIN G B

chicago

Conferencia; society for neurocience; 2009

society for neurocience

Singing behaviour in songbirds shows strong parallels to human vocal learning. As in humans, development of a learned vocalization first requires exposure to an acoustic model of species typical song and, subsequently, a sensory-motor practice period after which the vocalization is produced in a stereotyped manner. In songbirds this process is modulated by different levels of gonadal steroid hormones, typically low levels of testosterone in the first period of leaning and high levels when the song is crystallized. Here we treated juvenile canaries with testosterone at the onset of the sensory-motor practice period. This hormone exposure induced a rapid development of song production. After 14 days of treatment, juveniles produced stereotyped song, whose syllabic rates and song structure were similar to those produced by adults. We also recorded subsyringeal air sac pressure during song to study respiratory motor gestures. Testosterone treated juveniles sang with similar air sac pressure patterns as those produced by adults while untreated control birds of the same age did not. Detailed temporal structure and pressure modulation patterns emerged rapidly with testosterone treatment