Topic: vocal syllables

Many complex behaviors involve sequences of basic motor or vocal elements governed by syntactic rules, which facilitate flexible and adaptive actions. Songbirds that crystallize their repertoire of vocal syllables and syllable-to-syllable transitions allow researchers to build probabilistic models of syntax rules, providing insight into underlying neural mechanisms. However, in many complex behaviors, syntax rules change over time, such as during learning or in response to new environmental and social contexts. Here, we investigated the songs of canaries, a seasonal songbird. Canaries learn a

In complex behaviors like speech and dance, the serial order of vocal syllables and motor gestures is governed by syntax rules. Canary song is a variable sequential behavior composed of subsequences of syllable repeats, called phrases. These phrases are flexibly ordered to form a large repertoire of songs, following long-range syntax rules, which relate the outcome of a phrase transition to the identity and order of preceding phrases. Projection neurons (PNs) in the canary premotor brain nucleus HVC show syllable-locked activity patterns which indicate their part in syllable-driving premotor '