In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an
unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it …

In all ages and countries, music and dance have constituted a central part in human culture
and communication. Recently, vocal-learning animals such as parrots and elephants have …

Vocal imitation in human infants and in some orders of birds relies on auditory-guided motor
learning during a sensitive period of development. It proceeds from 'babbling' (in humans) …

Human language, as well as birdsong, relies on the ability to arrange vocal elements in new
sequences. However, little is known about the ontogenetic origin of this capacity. Here we …

The Bengalese finch Lonchura striata var. domestica is a domesticated strain of a wild
species, the white‐rumped munia Lonchura striata of Southeast Asia. Bengalese finches have …

Unlike our primate cousins, many species of bird share with humans a capacity for vocal
learning, a crucial factor in speech acquisition. There are striking behavioural, neural and …

Songbirds develop their songs by imitating songs of adults. For song learning to proceed
normally, the bird's hearing must remain intact throughout the song development process. In …

Operant conditioning and a psychophysical tracking procedure were used to measure
auditory thresholds for pure tones in quiet and in noise for seven species of small birds—the …

The domain of syntax is seen as the core of the language faculty and as the most critical
difference between animal vocalizations and language. We review evidence from …

Background Vocal learning is a central functional constituent of human speech, and recent
studies showing that adult male mice emit ultrasonic sound sequences characterized as “…