IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v395y1998i6697d10.1038_25725.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of nonlinear dynamics of the syrinx in the vocalizations of a songbird

Author

Listed:
  • Michale S. Fee

    (Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies)

  • Boris Shraiman

    (Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies)

  • Bijan Pesaran

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Partha P. Mitra

    (Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies)

Abstract

Birdsong is characterized by the modulation of sound properties over a wide range of timescales1. Understanding the mechanisms by which the brain organizes this complex temporal behaviour is a central motivation in the study of the song control and learning system2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Here we present evidence that, in addition to central neural control, a further level of temporal organization is provided by nonlinear oscillatory dynamics that are intrinsic to the avian vocal organ. A detailed temporal and spectral examination of song of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) reveals a class of rapid song modulations that are consistent with transitions in the dynamical state of the syrinx. Furthermore, in vitro experiments show that the syrinx can produce a sequence of oscillatory states that are both spectrally and temporally complex in response to the slow variation of respiratory or syringeal parameters. As a consequence, simple variations in a small number of neural signals can result in a complex acoustic sequence.

Suggested Citation

  • Michale S. Fee & Boris Shraiman & Bijan Pesaran & Partha P. Mitra, 1998. "The role of nonlinear dynamics of the syrinx in the vocalizations of a songbird," Nature, Nature, vol. 395(6697), pages 67-71, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6697:d:10.1038_25725
    DOI: 10.1038/25725
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/25725
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/25725?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Timothy E Holy & Zhongsheng Guo, 2005. "Ultrasonic Songs of Male Mice," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(12), pages 1-1, November.
    2. Avishek Paul & Helen McLendon & Veronica Rally & Jon T Sakata & Sarah C Woolley, 2021. "Behavioral discrimination and time-series phenotyping of birdsong performance," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-21, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6697:d:10.1038_25725. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.