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Author |
Gentner, T.Q.; Fenn, K.M.; Margoliash, D.; Nusbaum, H.C. |
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Title |
Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
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Volume |
440 |
Issue |
7088 |
Pages |
1204-1207 |
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Keywords |
Acoustic Stimulation; *Animal Communication; Animals; Auditory Perception/*physiology; Humans; *Language; Learning/*physiology; Linguistics; Models, Neurological; Semantics; Starlings/*physiology; Stochastic Processes |
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Abstract |
Humans regularly produce new utterances that are understood by other members of the same language community. Linguistic theories account for this ability through the use of syntactic rules (or generative grammars) that describe the acceptable structure of utterances. The recursive, hierarchical embedding of language units (for example, words or phrases within shorter sentences) that is part of the ability to construct new utterances minimally requires a 'context-free' grammar that is more complex than the 'finite-state' grammars thought sufficient to specify the structure of all non-human communication signals. Recent hypotheses make the central claim that the capacity for syntactic recursion forms the computational core of a uniquely human language faculty. Here we show that European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) accurately recognize acoustic patterns defined by a recursive, self-embedding, context-free grammar. They are also able to classify new patterns defined by the grammar and reliably exclude agrammatical patterns. Thus, the capacity to classify sequences from recursive, centre-embedded grammars is not uniquely human. This finding opens a new range of complex syntactic processing mechanisms to physiological investigation. |
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Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. tgentner@ucsd.edu |
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1476-4687 |
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PMID:16641998 |
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refbase @ user @ |
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353 |
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Author |
Heffner, R.S.; Heffner, H.E. |
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Title |
Localization of tones by horses: use of binaural cues and the role of the superior olivary complex |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
1986 |
Publication |
Behavioral Neuroscience |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav Neurosci |
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Volume |
100 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
93-103 |
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Keywords |
Animals; Auditory Pathways/physiology; Auditory Perception/*physiology; Avoidance Learning/physiology; Brain Mapping; Electroshock; Female; Horses/*physiology; Male; Olivary Nucleus/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Orientation/physiology; Pitch Perception/physiology; Sound Localization/*physiology |
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Abstract |
The ability of horses to use binaural time and intensity difference cues to localize sound was assessed in free-field localization tests by using pure tones. The animals were required to discriminate the locus of a single tone pip ranging in frequency from 250 Hz to 25 kHz emitted by loudspeakers located 30 degrees to the left and right of the animals' midline (60 degrees total separation). Three animals were tested with a two-choice procedure; 2 additional animals were tested with a conditioned avoidance procedure. All 5 animals were able to localize 250 Hz, 500 Hz, and 1 kHz but were completely unable to localize 2 kHz and above. Because the frequency of ambiguity for the binaural phase cue delta phi for horses in this test was calculated to be 1.5 kHz, these results indicate that horses can use binaural time differences in the form of delta phi but are unable to use binaural intensity differences. This finding was supported by an unconditioned orientation test involving 4 additional horses, which showed that horses correctly orient to a 500-Hz tone pip but not to an 8-kHz tone pip. Analysis of the superior olivary complex, the brain stem nucleus at which binaural interactions first take place, reveals that the lateral superior olive (LSO) is relatively small in the horse and lacks the laminar arrangement of bipolar cells characteristic of the LSO of most mammals that can use binaural delta I. |
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0735-7044 |
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PMID:3954885 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5634 |
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