| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,810,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,110,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Like humans learn to speak, songbirds learn to sing by listening to conspecific adult vocalizations during development. In zebra finch, one type of songbird, juveniles develop their own unique song while maintaining species specific characteristics. In this study, we found that zebra finch juveniles, raised by foster parents of another species, learned the acoustic morphology of song elements, but not the temporal silent gap patterns from the foster fathers’ songs. We further found two subsets of neurons in the primary auditory area carrying complementary information about zebra finch songs. Those suggest parallel information processing of sound morphology and temporal gap pattern of song via two distinct groups of neurons, enabling zebra finches to develop songs that are simultaneously unique yet species-specific. Our study suggests how our brain circuits handle learning behavior under innate restrictions.
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