A comparative analysis of auditory perception in humans and songbirds: a modular approach

We propose that a relatively small number of perceptual skills underlie human perception of music and speech. Humans and songbirds share a number of features in the development of their auditory communication systems. These similarities invite comparisons between species in their auditory perceptual skills. Here, we summarized our experimental comparisons between humans (and other mammals) and songbirds (and other birds) in their use of pitch height and pitch chroma perception and discuss similarities and differences in other auditory perceptual abilities of these species. Specifically, we introduced a functional modular view, using pitch chroma and pitch height perception as examples, as a theoretical framework for the comparative study of auditory perception and perhaps all of the study of comparative cognition. We also contrasted phylogeny and adaptation as causal mechanisms in comparative cognition using examples from auditory perception.