Neural and Behavioral Mechanisms Underlying Vocal Learning and Communication

Humans are excellent vocal learners. Infants learn to produce complex vocal patterns of their native language from their parents. Research in our laboratory focuses on the question of how animals learn to produce their complex vocalizations from other individuals and maintain the learned vocal patterns through daily vocal practice throughout their lives. More broadly, we address the question of how experience during early life shapes the functioning of the nervous system and individuals' perception and behavior. To address these questions, we mainly study songbirds, which provide a great model system for investigating the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying vocal learning and communication. The lab utilizes a variety of techniques, including electrophysiology, behavioral manipulations, pharmacology, and calcium imaging of neural activity in songbirds.