Neural correlates of categorical perception in learned vocal communication.
Abstract
The division of continuously variable acoustic signals into discrete perceptual categories
is a fundamental feature of vocal communication, including human speech. Despite the
importance of categorical perception to learned vocal communication, the neural correlates
underlying this phenomenon await identification. We found that individual sensorimotor
neurons in freely behaving swamp sparrows expressed categorical auditory responses
to changes in note duration, a learned feature of their songs, and that the neural
response boundary accurately predicted the categorical perceptual boundary measured
in field studies of the same sparrow population. Furthermore, swamp sparrow populations
that learned different song dialects showed different categorical perceptual boundaries
that were consistent with the boundary being learned. Our results extend the analysis
of the neural basis of perceptual categorization into the realm of vocal communication
and advance the learned vocalizations of songbirds as a model for investigating how
experience shapes categorical perception and the activity of categorically responsive
neurons.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Acoustic StimulationAnimals
Auditory Perception
High Vocal Center
Imitative Behavior
Male
Neurons
Sparrows
Territoriality
Vocalization, Animal
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13716Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1038/nn.2246Publication Info
Prather, Jonathan F; Nowicki, Stephen; Anderson, Rindy C; Peters, Susan; & Mooney,
Richard (2009). Neural correlates of categorical perception in learned vocal communication. Nat Neurosci, 12(2). pp. 221-228. 10.1038/nn.2246. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13716.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Stephen Nowicki
Professor of Biology
Our lab studies animal communication and sexual selection from an integrative perspective
that includes a wide range of behavioral ecological, neuroethological, developmental,
genetic, and evolutionary approaches. Birds are our most common model system, but
we also have worked with insects, spiders, shrimp, lobsters, lizards, and primates,
including humans. The central question that drives our work is how information, in
the broadest sense of that word, is used by organisms to maximize survival

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