16.1326, Media: MIT: Bird's brains reveal source of songs

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1326. Mon Apr 25 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1326, Media: MIT: Bird's brains reveal source of songs

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1)
Date: 25-Apr-2005
From: Neil Salmond < neil at linguistlist.org >
Subject: MIT: Bird's brains reveal source of songs

	
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 16:27:31
From: Neil Salmond < neil at linguistlist.org >
Subject: MIT: Bird's brains reveal source of songs



'The songbird's creative, trial-and-error type of learning provides an
ideal model for studying similar processes in humans, such as how a baby's
babble takes on the conversational cadences and recognizable syllables of
mama and papa.

'Likewise, the brain pathways involved in birdsong have a human
counterpart, the poorly understood basal ganglia circuit, so birds may have
something to teach us about our own brains and what we learn may eventually
apply to human diseases that affect motor abilities, such as Parkinson's
disease.'

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/songbirds.html


Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition
                     Neurolinguistics




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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1326