Neuroscience of Social Communication
We study social behavior and the coordinated neural systems underlying the perception and production of communication signals. Like us, songbirds communicate using hearing and voice, and they learn to sing during development by copying the songs of adults they interact with socially. Our research focuses on understanding how songbird auditory circuits give rise to song perception and control vocal motor circuits during song learning and production.
What Songbirds Can Teach Us About Human Speech and Language?
Just like humans, songbirds rely on hearing to learn, perceive and produce the vocalizations they use to communicate. They learn song by listening to and copying the songs of tutors. Like the organization of speech, in which phonemes form syllables, syllables form words and words form sentences., the organization of song is hierarchical; notes form syllables and syllables are produced in sequences to form motifs and motifs are repeated to form a singing bout. To learn, perceive and maintain song, songbirds have auditory cortical networks that encode vocal sounds with exquisite accuracy. They are also unique among non-human animals in that they learn to sing during a critical period in development. For these reasons, songbirds provide a powerful model system to study the neural mechanisms underlying vocal learning, production, and perception, as well as to understand what happens in the brain when those processes are disrupted.
Learning the Language of Love: The Brain Science of Songbirds
Humans and songbirds are both social creatures. Vocal communication is critical for reproduction and survival. Young songbirds must hear and memorize songs during development to use them as templates for song learning. In this video, Dr. Woolley explains the importance of birdsong in the contexts of mating and self-advertisement.
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