Jon T. Sakata

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that social interactions rapidly enhance vocal learning, attention to song, and the activity of catecholamine-synthesizing neurons in juvenile zebra finches, and it is revealed that adult finches alter the structure of their vocalizations when interaction with juveniles in ways that resemble how humans alter their speech when interacting with infants, and that could enhance learning.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that song premotor circuitry is sensitive to auditory feedback during singing and suggested that feedback may contribute in real time to the control and calibration of song.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that variability in syllable sequencing is rapidly modulated by social context with greater variability present in undirected song, indicating that the nervous system exerts active control over variability at multiple levels of song organization and support the hypothesis that such variability in otherwise stable adult song serves a function.

TL;DR: Recorded activity in the premotor nucleus HVC of singing Bengalese finches is found to indicate that neurons in avian vocal premotor circuitry are rapidly influenced by perturbations of auditory feedback and support the possibility that feedback information in HVC contributes “online” to the production and plasticity of vocalizations.

TL;DR: It is argued that genes regulating the function of basal ganglia circuits and sex steroid hormones could be sculpted by sexual selection and gain an appreciation for the various dimensions of song control and plasticity.