The songbird as a percussionist: syntactic rules for non-vocal sound and song production in Java sparrows.

ABSTRACT: Music and dance are two remarkable human characteristics that are closely related. Communication through integrated vocal and motional signals is also common in the courtship displays of birds. The contribution of songbird studies to our understanding of vocal learning has already shed some light on the cognitive underpinnings of musical ability. Moreover, recent pioneering research has begun to show how animals can synchronize their behaviors with external stimuli, like metronome beats. However, few studies have applied such perspectives to unraveling how animals can integrate multimodal communicative signals that have natural functions. Additionally, studies have rarely asked how well these behaviors are learned. With this in mind, here we cast a spotlight on an unusual animal behavior:

SUBMITTER: Soma M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4438869 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature