Bobthetech
05-04-2008, 08:16 AM
From The Free Dictionary
Scientists studying the brain circuitry of zebra finches found that baby birds babble in much the same way that human infants do as they learn the communication patterns of the adult community. During the period when the baby bird is babbling, a specific area of the finch’s brain called the LMAN is activated. Once the adult birdsong is learned, the high vocal center, or HVC, takes over. When researchers inactivated the HVC in adult birds, they found that the finches reverted to the random babbling of babies. This indicates that babbling and singing occur in two different portions of the brain rather than in a single, gradually maturing circuit.
Scientists studying the brain circuitry of zebra finches found that baby birds babble in much the same way that human infants do as they learn the communication patterns of the adult community. During the period when the baby bird is babbling, a specific area of the finch’s brain called the LMAN is activated. Once the adult birdsong is learned, the high vocal center, or HVC, takes over. When researchers inactivated the HVC in adult birds, they found that the finches reverted to the random babbling of babies. This indicates that babbling and singing occur in two different portions of the brain rather than in a single, gradually maturing circuit.