Learning and executing complex motor skills relies heavily on sensory feedback and contextual cues. In vocal behaviors, auditory input plays a crucial role throughout learning and mature production. We investigate the influence of auditory feedback on vocal development and flexibility in songbirds. We examined the impact of female vocal feedback on song learning in zebra finches. Juvenile males raised with females exhibited more accurate imitation of tutor song features compared to socially isolated birds. Females also provided practice-specific feedback, increasing vocalizations as the young birds’ song improved. Intracellular recordings in HVC, a key premotor area, revealed that female vocalizations modulate neural activity in juveniles during both listening and singing. These findings demonstrate the importance of female vocal feedback in song development and highlight how non-tutor vocal input shapes the neural circuitry of song acquisition. Furthermore, we explored the mechanisms stabilizing adult song, finding that inhibition within HVC closes the critical period by suppressing tutor influence. Reopening this period in adult zebra finches using a cell-type specific viral strategy allowed the birds to learn novel song elements, suggesting potential applications for enhancing motor skill learning and recovery.

Beyond developmental learning, we investigate real-time vocal flexibility in wild nightingales. We demonstrated that these birds can instantaneously match the pitch of conspecific whistles and pitch-controlled playbacks across their vocal range. This precise, year-round pitch matching suggests a stable neural substrate. The higher precision of prompt pitch matches indicates a direct auditory-motor mapping for online vocal replication. Further investigation revealed that nightingales also adjust syllable durations to match playback stimuli. However, when presented with novel pitch and duration combinations, they prioritize either spectral or temporal matching, constrained by their natural vocal repertoire. This reveals a novel dimension of vocal flexibility and potential trade-offs in real-time vocal adjustments during interactive communication, making nightingales a promising model for studying sensorimotor transformation.

Welcome to this exciting seminar!

Frederike Klein

Selected publications:

Benichov, J. I.; Vallentin, D.: Inhibition within a premotor circuit controls the timing of vocal turn-taking in zebra finches. Nature Communications 11, 221 (2020)

Costalunga, G.; Carpena Sanchez, C.; Seltmann, S.; Benichov, J. I.; Vallentin, D.: Wild nightingales flexibly match whistle pitch in real time. Current Biology 33 (15), S. 3169 – 3178 (2023) 

Bistere, L.; Gomez-Guzman, C. M.; Xiong, Y.; Vallentin, D.: Female calls promote song learning in male juvenile zebra finches. Nature Communications 15, 8938 (2024)

************************************

University of Helsinki students, please note: If you wish to obtain credits from this seminar series, please use your full name in Zoom or sign the participant list in the lecture hall.

Upcoming seminars:

28.9.2026 Andrew Pospisilik: Stochastic and epigenetic origins of complex trait disease

5.10.2026 Shrike Y. Zhang: Unconventional Additive (Bio)Manufacturing for Regenerative Medicine

12.10.2026 Medix Prize