The bird's brain coordinates the coherence of singing in a forest choir. Free Technical Library News

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The brain of a bird coordinates the coherence of singing in a forest choir

25.06.2021

Neuroscientists and ornithologists from leading research centers in the United States have joined forces to understand what mechanisms regulate the coordination of birds during singing. Duet vocalists, ensemble musicians - they are all so coordinated that they seem to form a single whole.

A new study has shown that while singing, the brain of one songbird interacts with the brain of another. Therefore, the song sounds harmonious. Eric Fortune, co-author of the study, a neuroscientist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, noted that the brains of birds that hear each other combine to act in unison.

The study took place in the laboratory of the Yanayaku biological station in Ecuador, at the foot of the Antisana volcano. The team was interested in what happens in the brains of male and female brown-tailed bushwren Pheugopedius euophrys when they sing a duet. This species lives in the bamboo thickets of South America. Brown-tailed bush wrens were chosen because their singing is very rhythmic, technical and coordinated.

The researchers recorded the brain activity of birds during duets using electrodes that are much thinner than a hair, said Eric Fortune. The team observed that when the bird sings, the neurons fire, and when the bird hears its partner singing, the neurons calm down.

The duet members follow each other. At the same time, there are no pauses between the introductions of the vocalists. It seems that the song is sung by one bird.

There is a similarity between the alternate singing of birds and the alternate dialogue of people. Participants in the dialogue begin to speak a nanosecond after they have heard the last word of the interlocutor.

Learning more about how songbirds synchronize their singing can shed light on the mechanism of coordination in humans. This is a complex phenomenon that involves the exchange of information of various types.

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