Yes. This bird is wearing headphones.
Confused? A recent study promises to shed light on the matter. The
research was conducted by scientists from Emory University and the
University of California, San Francisco. It has resulted in a
mathematical model that might explain why some things, like language,
are easier to learn at a certain age.
The research used Bengalese Finches as a model. The scientists
investigated how their brain slowly learns to rectify mistakes in their
songs. Infant Bengalese Finches attempt to imitate the adult birdsong
within a few days of hatching. However, much like how human babies
babble, it is highly disorganized and has many mistakes. But the baby
birds keep practicing the song, slowly rectifying the errors, until they
can sing properly.
Younger birds (and humans) make loads of
mistakes. But as they age, the variability of these mistakes decreases.
The theory is that the mature brain ignores large mistakes and focuses
on fixing the small mistakes. This is because the brain relies on the
senses, which are inaccurate, to detect these errors. The brain may
perceive some of the larger mistakes as a mishearing and will ignore
them. This may explain why language is easier to learn as a youth than
as an adult.
So the researchers aimed to find out the
mathematical relationship between the size of the error in the song and
the probability of the brain recognizing it as an error. This was where
the headphones came in. The adult Bengalese Finches were equipped with
mini-headphones. They would sing their song into a microphone. The
researchers made adjustments to the pitch of the songs and played it
back to the birds to trick them into thinking that they were singing
wrong. When the pitch shifts were small, the birds were quick to learn
and adjust. But as the pitch shifts became bigger, the birds learned
less well. The trend continued until at a certain pitch, the birds
stopped learning altogether.
The data was used to develop a
statistical model to define a relationship between the size of an error
in song and the probability of the bird recognizing the mistake. More
experiments are being developed to improve the model. The researchers
hope that the model can “help in the development of human behavioral
therapies for vocal rehabilitation, as well as increase our general
understanding of how the brain learns.”
Read all about it: http://bit.ly/ULCmCM
Image Source: http://bit.ly/RfWIGx
Yes. This bird is wearing headphones.
Confused? A recent study promises to shed light on the matter. The research was conducted by scientists from Emory University and the University of California, San Francisco. It has resulted in a mathematical model that might explain why some things, like language, are easier to learn at a certain age.
The research used Bengalese Finches as a model. The scientists investigated how their brain slowly learns to rectify mistakes in their songs. Infant Bengalese Finches attempt to imitate the adult birdsong within a few days of hatching. However, much like how human babies babble, it is highly disorganized and has many mistakes. But the baby birds keep practicing the song, slowly rectifying the errors, until they can sing properly.
Younger birds (and humans) make loads of mistakes. But as they age, the variability of these mistakes decreases. The theory is that the mature brain ignores large mistakes and focuses on fixing the small mistakes. This is because the brain relies on the senses, which are inaccurate, to detect these errors. The brain may perceive some of the larger mistakes as a mishearing and will ignore them. This may explain why language is easier to learn as a youth than as an adult.
So the researchers aimed to find out the mathematical relationship between the size of the error in the song and the probability of the brain recognizing it as an error. This was where the headphones came in. The adult Bengalese Finches were equipped with mini-headphones. They would sing their song into a microphone. The researchers made adjustments to the pitch of the songs and played it back to the birds to trick them into thinking that they were singing wrong. When the pitch shifts were small, the birds were quick to learn and adjust. But as the pitch shifts became bigger, the birds learned less well. The trend continued until at a certain pitch, the birds stopped learning altogether.
The data was used to develop a statistical model to define a relationship between the size of an error in song and the probability of the bird recognizing the mistake. More experiments are being developed to improve the model. The researchers hope that the model can “help in the development of human behavioral therapies for vocal rehabilitation, as well as increase our general understanding of how the brain learns.”
Read all about it: http://bit.ly/ULCmCM
Image Source: http://bit.ly/RfWIGx
Confused? A recent study promises to shed light on the matter. The research was conducted by scientists from Emory University and the University of California, San Francisco. It has resulted in a mathematical model that might explain why some things, like language, are easier to learn at a certain age.
The research used Bengalese Finches as a model. The scientists investigated how their brain slowly learns to rectify mistakes in their songs. Infant Bengalese Finches attempt to imitate the adult birdsong within a few days of hatching. However, much like how human babies babble, it is highly disorganized and has many mistakes. But the baby birds keep practicing the song, slowly rectifying the errors, until they can sing properly.
Younger birds (and humans) make loads of mistakes. But as they age, the variability of these mistakes decreases. The theory is that the mature brain ignores large mistakes and focuses on fixing the small mistakes. This is because the brain relies on the senses, which are inaccurate, to detect these errors. The brain may perceive some of the larger mistakes as a mishearing and will ignore them. This may explain why language is easier to learn as a youth than as an adult.
So the researchers aimed to find out the mathematical relationship between the size of the error in the song and the probability of the brain recognizing it as an error. This was where the headphones came in. The adult Bengalese Finches were equipped with mini-headphones. They would sing their song into a microphone. The researchers made adjustments to the pitch of the songs and played it back to the birds to trick them into thinking that they were singing wrong. When the pitch shifts were small, the birds were quick to learn and adjust. But as the pitch shifts became bigger, the birds learned less well. The trend continued until at a certain pitch, the birds stopped learning altogether.
The data was used to develop a statistical model to define a relationship between the size of an error in song and the probability of the bird recognizing the mistake. More experiments are being developed to improve the model. The researchers hope that the model can “help in the development of human behavioral therapies for vocal rehabilitation, as well as increase our general understanding of how the brain learns.”
Read all about it: http://bit.ly/ULCmCM
Image Source: http://bit.ly/RfWIGx
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