Weisman R, Njegovan M, Sturdy C, Phillmore L, Coyle J, Mewhort D
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
J Comp Psychol. 1998 Sep;112(3):244-58. doi: 10.1037/0735-7036.112.3.244.
The acoustic frequency ranges in birdsongs and human speech can provide important pitch cues for recognition. Zebra finches and humans were trained to sort contiguous frequencies into 3 or 8 ranges, based on associations between the ranges and reward. The 3-range task was conducted separately in 3 spectral regions. Zebra finches discriminated 3 ranges in the medium and high spectral regions faster than in the low region and discriminated 8 ranges with precision. Humans discriminated 3 ranges in all 3 spectral regions to the same modest standard and acquired only a crude discrimination of the lowest and highest of 8 ranges. The results indicate that songbirds have a special sensitivity to the pitches in conspecific songs and, relative to humans, have a remarkable general ability to sort pitches into ranges.
鸟鸣声和人类语音中的声频范围可为识别提供重要的音高线索。斑胸草雀和人类接受训练，根据音频范围与奖励之间的关联，将连续的频率分成3个或8个范围。3范围任务在3个频谱区域分别进行。斑胸草雀在中高频谱区域区分3个范围的速度比低频区域快，并且能精确区分8个范围。人类在所有3个频谱区域区分3个范围的水平相当，对8个范围中最低和最高的范围只有粗略的区分。结果表明，鸣禽对同种鸟鸣声中的音高具有特殊的敏感性，并且相对于人类，它们具有将音高分成不同范围的卓越综合能力。
