What have we recently learned about song learning and social interactions?

Vocal learning in birds is a complex animal behavior with several parallels to vocal learning in humans. Early experiments in the 70s showing that juvenile birds could learn their species’ normal song presented only through loudspeakers led to the general notion that social interactions are unnecessary for song learning. These views were soon challenged, and after decades of research we know that different social factors influence song learning. Here, I discuss recent research that is getting us closer to understanding how. Juvenile birds in the wild are exposed to both direct and indirect interactions with singing adults, which can be relevant to different aspects of the learning process. The exposure to a potential living tutor may trigger or enhance the learning process, but direct interaction with a tutor producing the song type that is finally learned or incorporated to the repertoire is not required. Social interactions that the learner witnesses may be more important in determining which songs are included in the final repertoire of an adult bird. Further research is also required to better understand the role of interactions with females, not by providing a model song to imitate but by exhibiting responses contingent to juveniles practicing their songs. As humans learn to talk, many bird species learn their songs and social factors play a key role in the process. First experiments showed that juvenile birds could learn the species’ typical song just by listening to recordings, leading to the notion that interactions with conspecifics were not necessary for avian vocal learning. However, we now know that different types of interactions have important effects on triggering and enhancing song learning, and determining which song types are learned.