A Computational Model of Birdsong Learning by Auditory Experience and Auditory Feedback
In addition to the goal of acquiring a precise description of the acoustic environment, central auditory processing also provides useful information for animal behaviors, such as navigation and communication. Singing is a learned behavior of male songbirds for protecting territories and attracting females (Konishi, 1985; Catchpole and Slater, 1995). It has been experimentally shown that singing behavior depends on auditory information in two ways. First, the phonetic features of a bird’s song depends on the bird’s auditory experience during a limited period after birth. Second, the development of songs of a juvenile bird depends on the auditory feedback of its own vocalization.