Constance Scharff

TL;DR: The evolution of cognition and the emergence of creative behaviour, in relation to vocal communication, is considered, and independently evolved biological signal mechanisms objectively share surface properties with human behaviours generally called ‘creative’.

TL;DR: These findings allow the first manipulations of the numbers of adult-generated neurons to address their potential behavioral function, and reveal principles similar to those that shape the developing brain.

TL;DR: These data provide the first evidence that Area X neurons can coexpress all avian FoxP subfamily members, thus allowing for a variety of regulatory possibilities via heterodimerization that could impact song behavior in zebra finches.

TL;DR: The results pave the way for studies using zebra finches to understand the neural basis of social behavior, in which the extended amygdala is involved, and proposed that the medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis is composed of several parallel cell corridors with different genetic profile and embryonic origin.

TL;DR: A striking repertoire turnover is reported in common nightingales, with an average overall increase of 24% of the first season’s repertoire, resulting from added and dropped song types, although the overlap between repertoire sizes of first and second season birds makes it impossible to discriminate age based solely on repertoire size.