PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anja T. Zai
AU  - Anna E. Stepien
AU  - Nicolas Giret
AU  - Richard H.R. Hahnloser
TI  - Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird
AID  - 10.1101/2022.09.27.509747
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.09.27.509747
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/05/26/2022.09.27.509747.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/05/26/2022.09.27.509747.full
AB  - Songbirds’ vocal mastery is impressive, but to what extent is it a result of practice? Can they, similar to humans, plan targeted changes to their songs in a practice-free manner without intermittently singing? In adult zebra finches, we drive the pitch of a song syllable away from its stable (baseline) variant acquired from a tutor, then we withdraw reinforcement and subsequently deprive them of song experience by muting or deafening. In this deprived state, birds do not recover their baseline song. However, they revert their songs towards the target by about one standard deviation of their recent practice, provided the latter signaled a pitch mismatch with the target. Thus, targeted vocal plasticity does not require immediate sensory experience, showing that zebra finches are capable of goal-directed vocal planning.Significance statement Zebra finches are capable of making target-directed changes to their songs without requiring sensory feedback.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.