A baby's babbling may sound like nonsense, but it's actually an extended act of trial-and-error learning. As babies produce ...

A new study shows male zebra finches must sing every day to keep their vocal muscles in shape. Females prefer the songs of males that did their daily vocal workout. Why do songbirds sing so much? Well ...

Zebra finches can not only distinguish the full range of their species’ vocalizations but also organize them by meaning, according to a new study. The results suggest a surprising level of semantic ...

When it comes to singing, male zebra finches outdo prima donnas, singing over a wide range that starts almost an octave above middle C but soars higher than any coloratura soprano. Female zebra ...

Their first vocalizations help young zebra finch males to memorize the songs of adults. When babies learn to talk or birds learn to sing, the same principle applies: listen and then imitate. This is ...

The babbling of zebra finches creates connections in the brain that enable them to memorize the song of their tutor. The picture shows a zebra finch chick (2nd from left) between a female (left) and a ...

A new study on songbirds sheds light on the power of social interaction to facilitate learning, insights that potentially apply to human development. Researchers discovered that zebra finches deprived ...

We recorded basal ganglia–projecting dopamine neurons in singing zebra finches as we controlled perceived song quality with distorted auditory feedback. Dopamine activity was suppressed after ...