Received: SeptemAccepted: MaPublished: May 2, 2013Ĭopyright: © 2013 Markowitz et al. PLoS Comput Biol 9(5):Įditor: Dezhe Jin, The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America This vocal complexity provides a valuable model to examine how ordered behaviors are assembled from more elementary neural components in a relatively simple neural circuit.Ĭitation: Markowitz JE, Ivie E, Kligler L, Gardner TJ (2013) Long-range Order in Canary Song. Like most forms of human music, the songs of canaries contain patterns expressed over long timescales, governed by rules that apply to multiple levels of a temporal hierarchy.
The choice of how long to repeat a given note or which note to choose next depends on the history of the song, and these dependencies span intervals of time much longer than previously assumed for birdsong. Here we show that one complex singer-the domesticated canary-produces a song that is strongly influenced by long-range rules. However, the complexity of these rules has not been examined statistically for the most elaborate avian singers. Recent studies suggest that bird songs may contain non-adjacent dependencies where the choice of what to sing next depends on the history of what has already been produced.
The neural basis of these long-range correlations may provide insight into how complex behaviors are assembled from more elementary, stereotyped modules.īird songs range in form from the simple notes of a Chipping Sparrow to the complex repertoire of the nightingale. We show that the ordering of phrases is governed by long-range rules: the choice of what phrase to sing next in a given context depends on the history of the song, and for some syllables, highly specific rules produce correlations in song over timescales of up to ten seconds. Phrases are defined by a fundamental time-scale that is independent of the underlying syllable duration. Here we examine the song of the domesticated canary, a complex singer whose song consists of syllables, grouped into phrases that are arranged in flexible sequences. Non-adjacent correlations can be found in the syntax of some birdsongs, indicating that the choice of what to sing next is determined not only by the current syllable, but also by previous syllables sung.
Bird songs range in form from the simple notes of a Chipping Sparrow to the rich performance of the nightingale.
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