Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Operant Conditioning Task to Measure Song Preference in Zebra Finches
Published on: December 26, 2019
Why don't cockatoos have war songs?
Cody Moser1, Jordan Ackerman1, Alex Dayer1
1Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA95343, USA. cmoser2@ucmerced.edujackerman2@ucmerced.eduadayer@ucmerced.edusproksch@ucmerced.edupsmaldino@ucmerced.edu; smaldino.com.
Abstract:
We suggest that the accounts offered by the target articles could be strengthened by acknowledging the role of group selection and cultural niche construction in shaping the evolutionary trajectory of human music. We argue that group level traits and highly variable cultural niches can explain the diversity of human song, but the target articles' accounts are insufficient to explain such diversity.
Related Concept Videos
Mate Choice
Conservation of Declining Populations
Korotkoff Sounds
During blood pressure assessment, inflating the cuff 30 millimeters of mercury above the patient's systolic blood pressure...
Parental Care
Standing Waves
The Auditory Ossicles
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...

