Vocal Learning Skills Linked To Problem Solving Abilities And Brain Size In Birds

Songbirds with the most complex vocal learning abilities were also the best problem solvers and had the largest brains relative to body size

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European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, are remarkably skilled at learning and producing a vast repertoire of whistles, calls, tunes and songs. Their mimicking abilities are legendary and have long been appreciated by human listeners — so much so that even the famous composer and musician, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, lived with a starling in his avian menagerie. It is thought that Mozart taught his beloved starling to whistle the opening bars of the third movement to his Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, and that A Musical Joke, which bears “the vocal autograph of a starling”, was inspired by Mozart’s avian companion (ref).

But one thing that Mozart probably never knew about his starling was this bird was probably also very good at solving puzzles. Or so a recently published study reports: songbirds, like starlings, that readily learn and produce complex vocal sounds are also superior problem solvers.

“There is a long-standing hypothesis that only the most intelligent animals are capable of complex vocal learning,” lead author of the study, ecologist and neurobiologist, Jean-Nicolas Audet, a postdoctoral research associate at Rockefeller University, said in a press release.

“If that is true, then complex vocal learners should also be better at cognitive tasks,” Dr Audet added, “but no one had ever demonstrated that before.”

Only a handful of mammalian and avian species are capable of learning and producing complex vocal sounds, including parrots, hummingbirds and songbirds.

This study was done under the guidance of Erich Jarvis, a professor at Rockefeller University. Professor Jarvis leads a team of researchers who investigate the genes and molecular mechanisms that underly anatomical and functional pathways related to learning complex behaviors such as singing and speaking. By unraveling vocal learning in birds and mammals, Jarvis and his collaborators are working to better understand human speech disorders so they may help restore some voices silenced by disability or disease. The animal models that Professor Jarvis studies include songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds.

To test whether vocal learning is linked to problem solving abilities in wild songbirds, Dr Audet and collaborators mist-netted hundreds of wild songbirds from 21 species during three years at Rockefeller University’s Field Research Center. This 1200 acre natural reserve is located 80 miles north of the Rockefeller University campus, and encompasses a variety of ecosystems in New York’s Hudson Valley.

“It’s a protected area, which means the animals have limited exposure to humans,” said biologist Mélanie Couture, a research assistant and collaborator on this study. “This is ideal for studying the behaviors of wild birds — what they can do, and how they react to cognitive tasks.”

To determine whether vocal learning is linked to problem solving abilities in songbirds, Dr Audet and collaborators began by ranking the complexity of the study birds’ vocal learning abilities according to three metrics (Figure 1): first, whether the bird could learn new calls throughout their entire lifetime (open-ended learners); second, how many calls and songs were in their repertoire; and third, whether they could mimic other species.

It’s interesting to note that just three species of songbirds included in this study could mimic other species, an ability that Dr Audet described as “the epitome of vocal learning.” These birds were bluejays, gray catbirds, and Mozart’s auditory inspiration, starlings. Further, Dr Audet and collaborators also ranked these three species highest in vocal learning capability.

Dr Audet and collaborators then tested problem-solving abilities of 214 birds from 23 species (including two lab-raised birds whose scores were included with those of the wild-caught birds). The study birds were challenged to solve seven cognitive tests, including their ability to problem solve by pulling a stick, piercing foil or removing a lid to get to a treat. The birds were also tested by placing a transparent barrier between each bird and a tasty snack, and timing how long it took the bird to figure out it needed to go around this obstacle to get the treat, and by whether the study birds could learn to associate a certain color with a food reward, and then, the next day, how quickly they adapted when the associated color changed.

Of all the birds studied, once again, starlings, bluejays and catbirds proved the most adept at solving puzzles. Statistical analyses revealed that puzzle solving was indeed correlated to vocal learning abilities, and the better a bird was at solving puzzles, the more complex its vocal learning abilities. Additionally, Dr Audet and collaborators also found that the birds who were best at navigating around invisible obstacles to get a treat also had more advanced vocal learning ability.

Dr Audet and collaborators then measured brain size in their study birds. They found that the most advanced vocal learners and problem solvers had larger brains relative to their body size. Which raises the question: where exactly in the avian brain does problem solving occur?

“Our next step is to look at the brains of the most complex species and try to understand why they are better at problem solving and vocal learning,” Dr Audet stated. “We have a pretty good idea of where vocal learning happens in the brain, but it’s not yet clear where problem solving occurs.”

This study suggests that problem-solving, vocal learning and brain size may all have evolved together. Professor Jarvis referred to this collection of traits as the “vocal learning cognitive complex.”

“Our findings help support a previously unproven notion: that the evolution of a complex behavior like spoken language, which depends on vocal learning, is associated with co-evolution of other complex behaviors.”

Source:

Jean-Nicolas Audet, Mélanie Couture and Erich D. Jarvis (2023). Songbird species that display more-complex vocal learning are better problem-solvers and have larger brains, Science 381(6663):1170-1175| doi:10.1126/science.adh3428

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