Gentner T Q, Hulse S H, Bentley G E, Ball G F
Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Group, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
J Neurobiol. 2000 Jan;42(1):117-33. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4695(200001)42:1<117::aid-neu11>3.0.co;2-m.
Among songbirds, the capacity to associate particular songs with particular singers (i.e., vocal recognition) forms the cognitive basis for more complex communication behaviors such as female choice and territoriality. In the present study, we combine operant conditioning techniques and excitotoxic lesions to the forebrain nucleus HVc to examine the role of this region in the discrimination, associative learning, and categorization of conspecific song. We trained adult male and female European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, to recognize simultaneously the songs of several conspecific males. Then, using a series of transfer procedures, we demonstrate that correct recognition does not generalize to song bouts containing novel motifs from familiar singers. This suggests that starlings do not make use of individually invariant source or filter characteristics for vocal recognition. We then lesioned a portion of HVc bilaterally with ibotenic acid, and exposed the birds to a series of manipulations testing the discrimination, associative learning, and categorization of conspecific song. The lesions attenuated song production among males, but retention of the basic recognition task (i.e., maintenance of the discrimination) was unaffected. However, when the response contingencies were reversed-as a test of associative learning independent of discrimination-the initial performance and subsequent learning rate were negatively correlated with the size of the HVc lesions. This suggests that HVc plays a role in the formation of associations between a song and some referent. The results of this study are discussed in light of earlier claims regarding the role of HVc in the perceptual processing of conspecific song.
在鸣禽中，将特定歌曲与特定歌手联系起来的能力（即声音识别）构成了更复杂交流行为的认知基础，如雌性选择和领地行为。在本研究中，我们结合操作性条件反射技术和对前脑核团HVC的兴奋性毒性损伤，来研究该区域在同种鸟鸣的辨别、联想学习和分类中的作用。我们训练成年雄性和雌性欧洲椋鸟（Sturnus vulgaris）同时识别几只同种雄性的歌声。然后，通过一系列转移程序，我们证明正确识别不会推广到包含熟悉歌手的新主题的歌曲片段。这表明椋鸟在声音识别中不会利用个体不变的声源或滤波器特征。然后，我们用鹅膏蕈氨酸双侧损伤一部分HVC，并让鸟类接受一系列测试同种鸟鸣辨别、联想学习和分类的操作。损伤减弱了雄性的歌声产生，但基本识别任务的保留（即辨别的维持）未受影响。然而，当反应条件反转时——作为对独立于辨别的联想学习的测试——初始表现和随后的学习率与HVC损伤的大小呈负相关。这表明HVC在歌曲与某些参照之间的联想形成中起作用。本研究结果根据早期关于HVC在同种鸟鸣感知处理中作用的说法进行了讨论。
