Vocal learning and flexible rhythm pattern perception are linked: Evidence from songbirds.

ABSTRACT: Rhythm perception is fundamental to speech and music. Humans readily recognize a rhythmic pattern, such as that of a familiar song, independently of the tempo at which it occurs. This shows that our perception of auditory rhythms is flexible, relying on global relational patterns more than on the absolute durations of specific time intervals. Given that auditory rhythm perception in humans engages a complex auditory-motor cortical network even in the absence of movement and that the evolution of vocal learning is accompanied by strengthening of forebrain auditory-motor pathways, we hypothesize that vocal learning species share our perceptual facility for relational rhythm processing. We test this by asking whether the best-studied animal model for vocal learning, the zebra finch, can recog

SUBMITTER: Rouse AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8307534 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature