"Bird Song Metronomics": Isochronous Organization of Zebra Finch Song Rhythm.

ABSTRACT: The human capacity for speech and vocal music depends on vocal imitation. Songbirds, in contrast to non-human primates, share this vocal production learning with humans. The process through which birds and humans learn many of their vocalizations as well as the underlying neural system exhibit a number of striking parallels and have been widely researched. In contrast, rhythm, a key feature of language, and music, has received surprisingly little attention in songbirds. Investigating temporal periodicity in bird song has the potential to inform the relationship between neural mechanisms and behavioral output and can also provide insight into the biology and evolution of musicality. Here we present a method to analyze birdsong for an underlying rhythmic regularity. Using the intervals from

SUBMITTER: Norton P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4934119 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature