Laboratory of Animal Behavior, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Brain Lang. 2010 Oct;115(1):3-17. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2010.05.002.
We do not know how vocal learning came to be, but it is such a salient trait in human evolution that many have tried to imagine it. In primates this is difficult because we are the only species known to possess this skill. Songbirds provide a richer and independent set of data. I use comparative data and ask broad questions: How does vocal learning emerge during ontogeny? In what contexts? What are its benefits? How did it evolve from unlearned vocal signals? How was brain anatomy altered to enable vocal learning? What is the relation of vocal learning to adult neurogenesis? No one has described yet a circuit or set of circuits that can master vocal learning, but this knowledge may soon be within reach. Moreover, as we uncover how birds encode their learned song, we may also come closer to understanding how we encode our thoughts.
我们不知道语言习得是如何产生的，但它是人类进化中如此显著的特征，以至于许多人都试图想象它。在灵长类动物中，这是很困难的，因为我们是唯一被认为拥有这种技能的物种。鸣禽提供了更丰富和独立的数据集。我使用比较数据并提出广泛的问题：语言习得是如何在个体发育过程中出现的？在什么情况下？它有什么好处？它是如何从无学习的声音信号进化而来的？大脑解剖结构是如何改变以实现语言习得的？语言习得与成年神经发生有什么关系？目前还没有人描述过一个能够掌握语言习得的回路或一组回路，但这方面的知识可能很快就会实现。此外，随着我们揭示鸟类如何编码它们所学的歌曲，我们也可能更接近理解我们如何编码我们的思想。
