Neuroscientists see how practice really does make perfect

Just as a professional athlete or concert pianist practices daily to hone and refine their physical movements for the best possible performance when it really counts, male zebra finches noodle around and sing slight variations ...

Researchers ID chemical that influences songbirds' song choice

New research in songbirds sheds more light on the decision-making process in the brain. In this study, researchers discovered that sensory input from the locus coeruleus—the area of the brainstem known primarily for mediating ...

New study reveals early evolution of cortex

Research on the lamprey brain has enabled researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden to push the birth of the cortex back in time by some 300 million years to over 500 million years ago, providing new insights into brain ...

Song-learning neurons identified in songbirds

A group of brain cells, the corticobasal ganglia projecting neurons, are important for vocal learning in young birds, but not in adult birds, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy ...

How the finch changes its tune

Like top musicians, songbirds train from a young age to weed out errors and trim variability from their songs, ultimately becoming consistent and reliable performers. But as with human musicians, even the best are not machines. ...

Study of dragonfly prey detection wins PNAS Cozzarelli Prize

Paloma T. Gonzalez-Bellido, a postdoctoral scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and her colleagues have been awarded a 2012 Cozzarelli Prize by the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy ...

A bird's song may teach us about human speech disorders

(PhysOrg.com) -- Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke? New research by UCLA life scientists and colleagues provides ...

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