Neural control of vocal interactions in songbirds
Daniela Vallentin · Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
Fri, May 15, 2020 · 13:00 UTC
During conversations we rapidly switch between listening and speaking which often requires withholding or delaying our speech in order to hear others and avoid overlapping. This capacity for vocal turn-taking is exhibited by non-linguistic species as well, however the neural circuit mechanisms that enable us to regulate the precise timing of our vocalizations during interactions are unknown. We aim to identify the neural mechanisms underlying the coordination of vocal interactions. Therefore, we paired zebra finches with a vocal robot (1Hz call playback) and measured the bird’s call response t