MEDS 371
Human speech and
animal vocal communication
Dr. Duck O. Kim
zebra finches
female
female
male
male
www.sfu.ca/biology/wildberg/species/Zebraf.gif
zebra finch song
Click to hear sound
frequency (kHz)
spectrogram of a male zebra finch song
sequence of syllables -> motif
motif ~ word
4 syllables
Purves Box 24-B
spectrogram of humpback
whale calls/songs
humpback whale
calls/songs
A spectrogram of calls/songs by several individual
humpback whales; Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Click to hear sound
frequency (kHz)
spectrogram of a male mouse song
Click to
hear sound
time (sec)
spectrograms of
human speech
0.5 sec
Doupe & Kuhl
1999
zebra finch song
human speech
freq. (kHz)
freq. (kHz)
4
2
0
0.5 sec
0.5 sec
chronology of song acquisition in zebra finches
Doupe et al., 2005
Zebra finch
human
Jarvis et al., 2005
basal ganglia of mammal and bird
striatum
striatum
globus
pallidus
globus
pallidus
Doupe et al., 2005
Model of the birdsong system plasticity
(key slide of this lecture)
eval. aud. FB
re template
(basal gang.)
auditory
feedback (FB)
auditory
system
instr. (error)
signal
song
production
system
(motor)
song
adapted from Brainard & Doupe 2000
the song system of zebra finch
auditory input
SNc/VTA
lower motor n.
-> vocal organ
area X: basal ganglia
DLM: thalamus
SNc/VTA: midbrain
HVC, RA, & LMAN: cortex homolog
RA: upper motor neurons
Doupe et al., 2005
Doupe et al., 2005
zebra finch song; a normal adult
The normal adult song consists of motifs of a
stereotyped sequence of syllables.
zebra finch song; area X lesioned in a juvenile
Doupe et al., 2005
SNc/VTA
area X: BG
DLM: thalamus
SNc/VTA: midbrain
others: cortex homolog
The song remains immature and highly variable.
normal song of zebra finch
abnormal song of deaf zebra finch
Model of the birdsong system plasticity
auditory
feedback
X
X
instr. (error)
signal
aud.
deafness
percep.
song motor
system
song
deterioration
X
normal song of zebra finch
adapted from
Brainard & Doupe 2000
X
eval. aud. FB
(basal gang.)
abnormal song of deaf zebra finch
In adult humans and song birds,
speech and song deteriorate when deafness
is encountered at an adult age.
This is not the result of a passive process
but it reflects an active adaptive plasticity
involving the basal ganglia.
The basal ganglia mediates adulthood
sensorimotor adaptive plasticity.
human
speech / language
MI
SI
arcuate fasciculus
Broca’s area
Wernicke’s area
Haines Fig 16-13
AI
large stroke in
the left cortex
aphasia
& other symptoms
large stroke in
the right cortex
neglect of
left body/space
& other symptoms
Purves Fig 26-6
viewing words
speaking words
listening to words
generating word associations
Purves Fig 27-6
PET imaging under various speech tasks
three major types of aphasia
• Broca’s aphasia
• Wernicke’s aphasia
• global aphasia
Purves Table 27-1
genetic deficit of speech function
• An inherited deficit in spoken language has been
associated with a mutation in FOXP2 gene on
chromosome 7.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging study has linked
the deficit to underactivity in Broca's area during word
generation.
• Possible link between FOXP2 and the mirror-neuron
system observed in the primate homologue of Broca's
area.
• This link might have implications for the evolution of
Broca's area and its role in speech (a new gene).
Reference:
Vargha-Khadem et al. 2005. FOXP2 and the neuroanatomy of
speech and language. Nature Rev 6: 131-138.