Neurophysiology of birdsong learning

Oscine songbirds use auditory feedback to learn and, in some species, to maintain their courtship songs. Song learning is restricted to a juvenile sensitive period characterized by a remarkable capacity for memorization and subsequent accurate imitation of tutor songs. The songbird’s brain contains a constellation of interconnected brain nuclei, known as the song system, which plays an important role in singing and song learning. This chapter covers our current understanding of the ecological function of song, the peripheral and central mechanisms of song production and the neural mechanisms of song learning.