Source-tract coupling in birdsong production

EZEQUIEL M. ARNEODO; GABRIEL B. MINDLIN

Huerta Grande, Córdoba

Conferencia; I REUNION CONJUNTA NEUROCIENCIAS; 2009

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias - Taller Argentino de Neurociencias

Among the peripheral physical mechanisms responsible for the generation of complex sounds by the avian vocal organ, the understanding of the dynamics emerging from the interaction between the sound source and the upper vocal tract remains most elusive. We propose a simple sound source model interacting with a tract, mathematically described in terms of a delay differential equation. We explore the system numerically and, by means of reducing the highly dissipative limit of the problem to a phase equation, we are capable of studying its periodic solutions. We find coexistence of periodic limit cycles: this hysteresis phenomenon allows us to interpret recently reported features found in the vocalization of some songbirds, in particular, frequency jumps.