RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Learning of speech categories in humans and Zebra Finches
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 077321
DO 10.1101/077321
A1 D. Botskaris
A1 B. Kriengwatana
A1 C. ten Cate
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/11/21/077321.abstract
AB The survival of organisms depends highly on their ability to adjust their behavior according to proper categorizations of various events. More than one strategy can be used in categorization. One is the Rule-Based (RB) strategy and the other is Information-Integration (II) strategy. In this research we analyzed the differences between avian and human cognition. Twelve Greek listeners and four Zebra finches were tested in speech category learning tasks. In particular, both humans and Zebra finches had to categorize between Dutch vowels that differ on duration, frequency or both depending on the condition. Feedback was given for correct and incorrect responses. The results showed that humans and Zebra finches are probably using the same methods of learning depending on the categorization tasks that they are exposed to. If Zebra Finches are actually able to acquire (RB) and (II) category structures using the same strategies as humans, the utility of multiple systems of categorization might not be restricted to primates as current literature suggest.