Behavioral responses to social tutoring in male Bengalese finches Open Access

Abstract

Background: In Estrildid finches, juvenile males learn species-typical vocalizations through social interactions with an adult tutor, usually their father, during a sensitive period in development. It is not well-established how a juvenile’s social behavior changes in the presence of a tutor during song learning. Here, I tested whether juvenile male Bengalese finches (L. striata domestica) would behave differently in a song learning context than in another social context.

Methods: At ~45 days post hatch, during the sensitive period for song memorization, juveniles raised by both parents were randomly assigned to one of two social conditions with either their father (“tutor”) or an unrelated familiar female (“control”) present. Behaviors of each juvenile were scored throughout a 45-minute stimulus period during which they could interact socially with the tutor or control animal in an adjacent cage.

Results: Juveniles presented with the tutor made more two-foot contacts with the walls nearest the stimulus cage, a high-effort approach behavior, than did juveniles presented with the control female. Juveniles also pecked more frequently in proximity to the stimulus animal in the tutor condition than in the control female condition. Finally, juveniles were more likely to approach the tutor when he was singing than expected by chance.

Conclusion: My results suggest that these juvenile songbirds were motivated to approach the tutor, were attracted to his song, and may have sought to elicit a response from the tutor through social bids. This study strengthens the applicability of the Bengalese finch model to socially-guided vocal learning (SGVL) in other species, including humans, and suggests future directions for investigating the role of specific behaviors in SGVL. 

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....1

Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 7

Results ....................................................................................................................................... 13

Discussion.................................................................................................................................. 15

References .................................................................................................................................. 24

Tables and Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..…30

Table 1. ...................................................................................................................................... 31

Table 2. ...................................................................................................................................... 32

Table 3. ...................................................................................................................................... 33

Figure 1. ..................................................................................................................................... 34

Figure 2. ..................................................................................................................................... 35

Figure 3. ..................................................................................................................................... 35

Figure 4. ..................................................................................................................................... 36

Figure 5. ..................................................................................................................................... 37

Figure S1. ................................................................................................................................... 38

Figure S2. ................................................................................................................................... 39

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Biology, Neuroscience Psychology, Behavioral
Keyword	attachment social behavior motivation songbird vocal learning song learning
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Maney, Donna, Emory University
Committee Members	Roesch, Leah, Emory University Murugan, Malavika, Emory University Thompson, Rick, Emory University

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