If this method stresses the importance of social factors on song learning in the zebra finch, one cannot answer questions about the nature of these factors: are they visual or multimodal, or is this result due to attentional phenomena? control of the behaviour of the tutor, number of songs heard, etc.). However, this method does not allow precise control of the different variables involved in song learning (e.g. This young–adult dyadic situation used to obtain a close-to-perfect imitation of the song is a reference for birdsong research ( Derégnaucourt, 2011).
This type of learning is of course exceptional in natural conditions, young males learn by imitating song mainly from their father, but also by copying parts of songs of other singing males living in their close environment ( Derégnaucourt and Gahr, 2013). In the zebra finch, the best way to obtain a close-to-perfect copy of the song is to raise a young male with an adult male ( Derégnaucourt et al., 2013). pinealectomy: Derégnaucourt et al., 2012 gene transfection: Haesler et al., 2007), and regulations regarding animal experimentation require the reduction of sample sizes. Some experimental procedures are complex (e.g. For example, we have shown a relationship between song learning and vocal plasticity during sleep: birds that showed stronger post-sleep deterioration during development achieved a better final imitation ( Derégnaucourt et al., 2005). Inter-individual variability may have advantages for the experimenter. Self-eliciting exposure to the song model, using an operant conditioning procedure, induces significant learning but with a high inter-individual variability: if some birds learn significantly (some even produce a very faithful copy of the song model broadcast), others show no sign of learning ( Derégnaucourt et al., 2005, 2013). Unlike other species of songbirds, passive exposure of zebra finch song recordings results in a poor imitation of song models ( Derégnaucourt et al., 2013). Different experimental procedures were used in the laboratory to train young zebra finches to learn a song. The importance of visual and physical contacts on song learning has also been evidenced young birds separated from their tutor by an opaque partition or a grid produce a worse imitation than birds that can physically interact with it ( Derégnaucourt, 2011). Birds raised in social isolation during the sensitive phase of learning develop abnormal songs that still contain sounds characteristic of the species ( Price, 1979). Since the pioneering works of Immelmann (1969), thousands of zebra finches have been reared in controlled environments to examine how their experience affects the development of their song.
They learn to sing by memorizing and imitating the songs of surrounding conspecifics, mainly adult males (see Derégnaucourt, 2011 for a review Derégnaucourt and Gahr, 2013). This tiny bird is very easy to breed in captivity only males sing and they develop their short and stereotyped song (1–1.5 s) during a sensitive period of early life (25–90 days after hatching). The zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata) is considered as the ‘lab mouse’ of birdsong research. Birdsong has been established as a model of choice to study the behavioural, cellular and molecular aspects of vocal production learning ( Aamodt et al., 2020). Humans share this ability with other animal species from few taxonomic groups including oscine songbirds. Vocal production learning is defined as ‘instances where the signals themselves are modified in form as a result of experience with those of other individuals’ ( Janik and Slater, 2000).
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