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Updated: Jul 16, 2025
A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds
Published on: November 26, 2012
Songbird species that display more-complex vocal learning are better problem-solvers and have larger brains
Jean-Nicolas Audet1,2, Mélanie Couture1,3, Erich D Jarvis1,2,3,4
1The Rockefeller University Field Research Center, Millbrook, NY, USA.
None:
Complex vocal learning, a critical component of human spoken language, has been assumed to be associated with more-advanced cognitive abilities. Tests of this hypothesis between individuals within a species have been inconclusive and have not been done across species. In this work, we measured an array of cognitive skills-namely, problem-solving, associative and reversal learning, and self-control-across 214 individuals of 23 bird species, including 19 wild-caught songbird species, two domesticated songbird species, and two wild-caught vocal nonlearning species. We found that the greater the vocal learning abilities of a species, the better their problem-solving skills and the relatively larger their brains. These conclusions held when controlling for noncognitive variables and phylogeny. Our results support a hypothesis of shared genetic and cognitive mechanisms between vocal learning, problem-solving, and bigger brains in songbirds.
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