Hermann Ackermann, Wolfram Ziegler
Audra Ames, Sara Wielandt, Dianne Cameron, Stan Kuczaj
David Ardell, Noelle Anderson, Bodo Winter
Rie Asano, Edward Ruoyang Shi
Mark Atkinson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Andreas Baumann, Christina Prömer, Kamil Kazmierski, Nikolaus Ritt
Christian Bentz
Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, Hanne Eckhoff
Richard A. Blythe, Alistair H. Jones, Jessica Renton
Cedric Boeckx, Constantina Theofanopoulou, Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Megan Broadway, Jamie Klaus, Billie Serafin, Heidi Lyn
Jon W. Carr, Kenny Smith, Hannah Cornish, Simon Kirby
Federica Cavicchio, Livnat Leemor, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Wendy Sandler
Zanna Clay, Jahmaira Archbold, Klaus Zuberbuhler
Katie Collier, Andrew N. Radford, Balthasar Bickel, Marta B. Manser, Simon W. Townsend
Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby, Marieke Schouwstra
Christine Cuskley, Vittorio Loreto
Christine Cuskley, Bernardo Monechi, Pietro Gravino, Vittorio Loreto
Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Sabrina Engesser, Amanda R. Ridley, Simon W. Townsend
Dankmar Enke, Roland Mühlenbernd, Igor Yanovich
Kerem Eryilmaz, Hannah Little, Bart de Boer
Nicolas Fay, Shane Rogers
Maryia Fedzechkina, Becky Chu, T. Florian Jaeger, John Trueswell
Olga Feher, Kenny Smith, Elizabeth Wonnacott, Nikolaus Ritt
Piera Filippi, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Daniel Liu Bowling, Larissa Heege, Albert Newen, Onur Güntürkün, Bart de Boer
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Molly Flaherty, Katelyn Stangl, Susan Goldin-Meadow
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Victor Gay, Daniel Hicks, Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
Andreea Geambasu, Michelle J. Spierings, Carel ten Cate, Clara C. Levelt
Matt Hall, Russell Richie, Marie Coppola
Stefan Hartmann, Peeter Tinits, Jonas Nölle, Thomas Hartmann, Michael Pleyer
Wolfram Hinzen, Joana Rosselló
Rick Janssen, Bodo Winter, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik, Sean Roberts
Rick Janssen, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Jasmeen Kanwal, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby
Deborah Kerr, Kenny Smith
Buddhamas Kriengwatana, Paola Escudero, Anne Kerkhoven, Carel ten Cate
Adriano Lameira, Jeremy Kendal, Marco Gamba
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
Casey Lister, Tiarn Burtenshaw, Nicolas Fay, Bradley Walker, Jeneva Ohan
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Giuseppe Longobardi, Armin Buch, Andrea Ceolin, Aaron Ecay, Cristina Guardiano, Monica Irimia, Dimitris Michelioudakis, Nina Radkevich, Gerhard Jaeger
Heidi Lyn, Stephanie Jett, Megan Broadway, Mystera Samuelson
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Jérôme Michaud
Ashley Micklos
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Yasamin Motamedi, Marieke Schouwstra, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Roland Mühlenbernd, Johannes Wahle
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya
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Alan Nielsen, Dieuwke Hupkes, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Bill Noble, Raquel Fernández
Irene M. Pepperberg, Katia Zilber-Izhar, Scott Smith
Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Bodo Winter, Dominic Massaro
Ljiljana Progovac
Andrea Ravignani, Tania Delgado, Simon Kirby
Terry Regier, Alexandra Carstensen, Charles Kemp
Lilia Rissman, Laura Horton, Molly Flaherty, Marie Coppola, Annie Senghas, Diane Brentari, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Gareth Roberts, Mariya Fedzechkina
Carmen Saldana, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Carlos Santana
William Schueller, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Catriona Silvey, Christos Christodoulopoulos
Katie Slocombe, Stuart Watson, Anne Schel, Claudia Wilke, Emma Wallace, Leveda Cheng, Victoria West, Simon Townsend
Ruth Sonnweber, Andrea Ravignani
Michelle Spierings, Carel ten Cate
Kevin Stadler, Elyse Jamieson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Monica Tamariz, Joleana Shurley
Monica Tamariz, Jon W. Carr
Bill Thompson, Heikki Rasilo
Oksana Tkachman, Carla L. Hudson Kam
Simon Townsend, Andrew Russell, Sabrina Engesser
Francesca Tria, Vittorio Loreto, Vito Servedio, S. Mufwene Salikoko
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Slawomir Wacewicz, Przemyslaw Zywiczynski, Arkadiusz Jasinski
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Eva Zehentner, Andreas Baumann, Nikolaus Ritt, Christina Prömer
Keywords: Rule learning, Positional learning, Songbirds, Parrots
Short description: Budgerigars can learn abstract rules in acoustic strings, zebra finches focus on the positional information.
Abstract:
The ability to abstract a rule that defines the structure of strings of sounds is a core mechanism underlying the language faculty, but might not be specific to language learning or even to humans. Up until now, it is unclear whether and to what extent non-human animals possess the ability to abstract a rule defining the relationship among arbitrary auditory items in a string and to generalize this rule to strings of acoustically novel items (ten Cate & Okanoya, 2012; ten Cate, 2014). In this study we tested both a songbird (zebra finch) as well as a parrot species (budgerigar) on these rule learning abilities. Subjects were trained in a go/no-go design to discriminate between two sets of sound strings that followed either an XYX or an XXY structure. After this discrimination was acquired, each subject received a number of test strings (mixed with the training strings) that followed the same structural rules, but consisted of either new combinations of known elements or of novel elements belonging to other categories. Both species learned to discriminate between the two stimulus sets during training. However, their responses to the test strings were strikingly different. Zebra finches categorized test stimuli with known elements by the positions that these elements occupied in the training strings. A subsequent experiment with artificially created sound elements showed that this was independent of whether the strings consisted of conspecific or unkown sounds. In contrast, the budgerigars categorized both novel combinations of familiar elements as well as strings consisting of novel elements by their underlying structure. They thus abstracted the relationship among items in the XYX and XXY structures, indicating a level of abstraction comparable to analogical reasoning, a cognitive ability long thought to be unique for humans and thus far only known from great apes and crows (Thompson & Oden 2000; Smirnova et al; 2015). Our study is the first clear indication that abstract rule learning in auditory strings is not specific to language or to humans.
References
Smirnova, A., Zorina, Z., Obozova, B., & Wasserman, E. (2015). Crows spontaneously exhibit analogical reasoning. Current Biology, 25, 1-5.
ten Cate, C. (2014). On the phonetic and syntactic processing abilities of birds: from songs to speech and artificial grammars. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 28, 157-164.
ten Cate, C., & Okanoya, K. (2012). Revisiting the syntactic abilities of non- human animals: natural vocalizations and artificial grammar learning. Phil.Trans. R. Soc. B., 367(1598), 1984-1994.
Thompson, R.K.R., & Oden, D.L. (2000). Categorical perception and conceptual judgments by nonhuman primates: The paleological monkey and the analogical ape. Cogn. Sci. 24, 363–396.
Citation:
Spierings M. and ten Cate C. (2016). Rule Learning In Birds: Zebra Finches Generalize By Positional Similarities, Budgerigars By The Structural Rules.. In S.G. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, L. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér & T. Verhoef (eds.) The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11). Available online: http://evolang.org/neworleans/papers/15.html