Saito N, Maekawa M
Department of Physiology, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Tochigi, Japan.
Brain Dev. 1993 Jan-Feb;15(1):31-9. doi: 10.1016/0387-7604(93)90004-r.
Birdsong is believed to provide the most adequate model for studying the learning process of human language. Songbirds require external song models after birth to learn their songs which contain highly complicated acoustic variables. They memorize their song models as 'templates' in their brains during a particular phase (sensitive phase), whereas vocalization starts in a subsequent step (sensorimotor phase). There may be two song templates: one innate and the other learned. A different nucleus in the song control system of the songbird brain may be responsible for each template. These nuclei are probably analogous to discrete cerebral nuclei of the human language system, including Broca's area.
鸟鸣被认为是研究人类语言学习过程的最恰当模型。鸣禽出生后需要外部的歌声模型来学习它们的歌曲，这些歌曲包含高度复杂的声学变量。它们在特定阶段（敏感期）将歌曲模型作为“模板”存储在大脑中，而发声则在随后的阶段（感觉运动期）开始。可能有两种歌曲模板：一种是先天的，另一种是后天习得的。鸣禽大脑中歌曲控制系统的不同核团可能分别负责每种模板。这些核团可能类似于人类语言系统中离散的脑核，包括布洛卡区。
