scholarly journals Like Father Like Son: Cultural and Genetic Contributions to Song Inheritance in an Estrildid Finch

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca N. Lewis ◽  
Masayo Soma ◽  
Selvino R. de Kort ◽  
R. Tucker Gilman
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Cultural Inheritance ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Song Structure ◽  
Novel Variants ◽  
Social Fathers ◽  
Song Syntax ◽  
Genetic Contributions

Social learning of vocalizations is integral to song inheritance in oscine passerines. However, other factors, such as genetic inheritance and the developmental environment, can also influence song phenotype. The relative contributions of these factors can have a strong influence on song evolution and may affect important evolutionary processes such as speciation. However, relative contributions are well-described only for a few species and are likely to vary with taxonomy. Using archived song data, we examined patterns of song inheritance in a domestic population of Java sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora), some of which had been cross-fostered. Six-hundred and seventy-six songs from 73 birds were segmented and classified into notes and note subtypes (N = 22,972), for which a range of acoustic features were measured. Overall, we found strong evidence for cultural inheritance of song structure and of the acoustic characteristics of notes; sons’ song syntax and note composition were similar to that of their social fathers and were not influenced by genetic relatedness. For vocal consistency of note subtypes, a measure of vocal performance, there was no apparent evidence of social or genetic inheritance, but both age and developmental environment influenced consistency. These findings suggest that high learning fidelity of song material, i.e., song structure and note characteristics, could allow novel variants to be preserved and accumulate over generations, with implications for evolution and conservation. However, differences in vocal performance do not show strong links to cultural inheritance, instead potentially serving as condition dependent signals.

Vocal performance varies with habitat quality in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus)

Behaviour ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibault Grava ◽  
Ken A. Otter ◽  
Angelique Grava
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Food Limitation ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Song Structure ◽  
Young Forest ◽  
Young Forests

AbstractIn vocal learners, such as songbirds, the ability to maintain an internal acoustic structure between songs during a chorus seems to be positively correlated with the singer’s condition and may, therefore, represent a reliable measure of the singer’s condition. For instance, some internal ratios in the black-capped chickadee ( Poecile atricapillus) fee-beesong are more stable in the song of dominant males than in the song of subordinate males, suggesting that dominant birds are better at maintaining the internal song structure than subordinate males. Habitat quality is also known to affect the behaviour of this species. Birds settling in young forest have a lower song output and lower reproductive success than birds occupying mature forests, and it is suggested that those differences arise from differential food availability across habitats. As recent studies suggest that song performance can be altered by food limitation at the time of song learning, we explore whether habitat quality has a similar effect on the ability to maintain internal song structure as does social rank. We paired males by similar social rank, but who occupied different habitat types, and compared the consistency of male song within his dawn chorus. The ability to maintain an internal song structure of birds occupying young forests was consistently lower than birds occupying mature forests. Our results demonstrate that the same difference that exist in song structure between male differing in social rank also exist between males differing in the habitat in which they sing.

scholarly journals An analysis of avian vocal performance at the note and song levels

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Logue ◽  
Jacob A. Sheppard ◽  
Bailey Walton ◽  
Benjamin E. Brinkman ◽  
Orlando J. Medina
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Modulation ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Song Structure ◽  
Performance Constraints ◽  
Physiological Limits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Level Performance

AbstractSexual displays that require extreme feats of physiological performance have the potential to reliably indicate the signaller’s skill. The hypothesis that the structure of bird song is physiologically constrained remains controversial. We tested for evidence of performance constraints in Adelaide’s warblers (Setophaga adelaidae) songs. At the note level, we identified three trade-offs with well-defined limits. At the song level, we identified two trade-offs, but their limits were less well-defined than the note-level limits. Trade-offs at both levels suggest that song structure is constrained by limits to the speed of both frequency modulation (while vocalizing and between notes) and respiration. Individual males experience the same trade-offs that characterize the population, but the intensity of those trade-offs varies among individuals. Performance metrics derived from the observed limits to performance varied moderately among individuals and strongly among song types. Note-level performance metrics were positively skewed, as predicted by the hypothesis that this population has experienced positive selection for constrained performance. We conclude that physiological limits on frequency modulation and respiration constrain song structure in male Adelaide’s warblers. Further work is needed to determine whether receivers respond to natural levels of variation in performance, and whether performance correlates with singer quality.

scholarly journals Global Picture of Genetic Relatedness and the Evolution of Humankind

Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 392
Author(s):  
Gennady V. Khvorykh ◽  
Oleh A. Mulyar ◽  
Larisa Fedorova ◽  
Andrey V. Khrunin ◽  
Svetlana A. Limborska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
East Europe ◽  
Genetic Components ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Genetic Contributions ◽  
Entire Picture

We performed an exhaustive pairwise comparison of whole-genome sequences of 3120 individuals, representing 232 populations from all continents and seven prehistoric people including archaic and modern humans. In order to reveal an intricate picture of worldwide human genetic relatedness, 65 million very rare single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) alleles have been bioinformatically processed. The number and size of shared identical-by-descent (IBD) genomic fragments for every pair of 3127 individuals have been revealed. Over 17 million shared IBD fragments have been described. Our approach allowed detection of very short IBD fragments (<20 kb) that trace common ancestors who lived up to 200,000 years ago. We detected nine distinct geographical regions within which individuals had strong genetic relatedness, but with negligible relatedness between the populations of these regions. The regions, comprising nine unique genetic components for mankind, are the following: East and West Africa, Northern Europe, Arctica, East Asia, Oceania, South Asia, Middle East, and South America. The level of admixture in every studied population has been apportioned among these nine genetic components. Genetically, long-term neighboring populations are strikingly similar to each other in spite of any political, religious, and cultural differences. The topmost admixture has been observed at the center of Eurasia. These admixed populations (including Uyghurs, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, and Iranians) have roughly equal genetic contributions from the Middle East, Europe, China, and India, with additional significant traces from Africa and Arctic. The entire picture of relatedness of all the studied populations unfolds and presents itself in the form of shared number/size of IBDs.

scholarly journals Missing compared to what? Revisiting heritability, genes and culture

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1743) ◽  
pp. 20170064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus W. Feldman ◽  
Sohini Ramachandran
Keyword(s):  
Main Tool ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Cultural Inheritance ◽  
Genetic Determination ◽  
Genetic Transmission ◽  
Standard Models ◽  
Modern Evolutionary Synthesis ◽  
Genetic Contributions ◽  
Cultural Gaps

Standard models for the determination of phenotypes from genes are grounded in simple assumptions that are inherent in the modern evolutionary synthesis (MES), which was developed in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The MES was framed in the context of Mendelian genetic transmission enhanced by the Fisherian view of the way discretely inherited genes determine continuously quantitative phenotypes. The statistical models that are used to estimate and interpret genetic contributions to human phenotypes—including behavioural traits—are constructed within the framework of the MES. Variance analysis constitutes the main tool and is used under this framework to characterize genetic inheritance, and hence determination of phenotypes. In this essay, we show that cultural inheritance, when incorporated into models for the determination of phenotypes, can sharply reduce estimates of the genetic contribution to these phenotypes. Recognition of the importance of non-genetic transmission of many human traits is becoming ever more necessary to prevent regression to the debates of the 1970s and 1980s concerning policies based on genetic determination of complex human phenotypes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution’.

scholarly journals Hidden neural states underlie canary song syntax

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yarden Cohen ◽  
Jun Shen ◽  
Dawit Semu ◽  
Daniel P. Leman ◽  
William A. Liberti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Network Dynamics ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Song Structure ◽  
Genetic Tools ◽  
Long Range Correlations ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Song Syntax

AbstractCoordinated skills such as speech or dance involve sequences of actions that follow syntactic rules in which transitions between elements depend on past actions. Canary songs are comprised of repeated syllables, called phrases, and the ordering of these phrases follows long-range rules, where the choice of what to sing depends on song structure many seconds prior. The neural substrates that support these long-range correlations are unknown. Using miniature head-mounted microscopes and cell-type-specific genetic tools, we observed neural activity in the premotor nucleus HVC as canaries explore various phrase sequences in their repertoire. We find neurons that encode past transitions, extending over 4 phrases and spanning up to 3 seconds and 40 syllables. These neurons preferentially encode past actions rather than future actions, can reflect more than a single song history, and occur mostly during the rare phrases that involve history-dependent transitions in song. These findings demonstrate that network dynamics in HVC reflect preceding behavior context relevant to flexible transitions.

scholarly journals The cophylogeny of populations and cultures: reconstructing the evolution of Iranian tribal craft traditions using trees and jungles

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1559) ◽  
pp. 3865-3874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamshid J. Tehrani ◽  
Mark Collard ◽  
Stephen J. Shennan
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Cultural Inheritance ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Tribal Populations ◽  
Host Parasite ◽  
Horizontal Transfers ◽  
Host Extinction

Phylogenetic approaches to culture have shed new light on the role played by population dispersals in the spread and diversification of cultural traditions. However, the fact that cultural inheritance is based on separate mechanisms from genetic inheritance means that socially transmitted traditions have the potential to diverge from population histories. Here, we suggest that associations between these two systems can be reconstructed using techniques developed to study cospeciation between hosts and parasites and related problems in biology. Relationships among the latter are patterned by four main processes: co-divergence, intra-host speciation (duplication), intra-host extinction (sorting) and horizontal transfers. We show that patterns of cultural inheritance are structured by analogous processes, and then demonstrate the applicability of the host–parasite model to culture using empirical data on Iranian tribal populations.

Cognitive gadgets: A provocative but flawed manifesto

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cherry Picking ◽  
Dichotomous Thinking

Abstract The argument against innatism at the heart of Cognitive Gadgets is provocative but premature, and is vitiated by dichotomous thinking, interpretive double standards, and evidence cherry-picking. I illustrate my criticism by addressing the heritability of imitation and mindreading, the relevance of twin studies, and the meaning of cross-cultural differences in theory of mind development. Reaching an integrative understanding of genetic inheritance, plasticity, and learning is a formidable task that demands a more nuanced evolutionary approach.

Perceived Voice Disorders in Older Adults and Impact on Social Interactions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Connie K. Porcaro ◽  
Clare Singer ◽  
Boris Djokic ◽  
Ali A. Danesh ◽  
Ruth Tappen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Voice Disorders ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Cross Sectional

Purpose Many aging individuals, even those who are healthy, report voice changes that can impact their ability to communicate as they once did. While this is commonly reported, most do not seek evaluation or management for this issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and differences in voice disorders in older adults, along with the effect of fatigue on their social interactions. Method This is a cross-sectional investigation of a community-dwelling sample of individuals aged 60 years or older. Participants completed the Questionnaire on Vocal Performance, the Social Engagement Index subset “Engagement in Social or Leisure Activities,” and the Fatigue Severity Scale. Results Results indicated 32.5% of the 332 participants reported symptoms of voice problems with no difference found between male and female respondents. A slight increase in report of voice problems was noted with each year of age. Participants who self-reported voice problems indicated less interaction in social activities involving communication than those who did not. Finally, as severity of self-reported voice problems increased, an increase was reported by the same individuals for signs of fatigue. Conclusions Voice problems and resulting decreased social interaction are commonly experienced by older individuals. Voice symptoms in older adults have been found to benefit from evidence-based treatment strategies. It is critical to provide education to encourage older individuals to seek appropriate evaluation and management for voice issues through a speech-language pathologist or medical professional.

Vocal Performance Teachers and Hearing Loss

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Vance Gunnell ◽  
Jeff Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Otoacoustic Emissions ◽  
Noise Exposure ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Occupational Noise ◽  
Hearing Conservation ◽  
Occupational Noise Exposure ◽  
Distortion Product ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
Performance Teachers

Hearing thresholds and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were measured for teachers of vocal performance who were gathered for a national conference. Results showed mean audiometric thresholds to be consistent with noise induced hearing loss, more than what would be expected with normal aging. Years of instruction and age were considered as factors in the hearing loss observed. It was concluded that hearing conservation should be initiated with this group to help raise awareness and protect them from hearing loss due to occupational noise exposure.

An Alternative to Self-Reports of Trait and State Affect

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Quirin ◽  
Regina C. Bode
Keyword(s):  
Self Report ◽  
Factorial Validity ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Cognitive Representation ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Novel Variants ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
State Affect ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
Automatic Activation

Self-report measures for the assessment of trait or state affect are typically biased by social desirability or self-delusion. The present work provides an overview of research using a recently developed measure of automatic activation of cognitive representation of affective experiences, the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT). In the IPANAT, participants judge the extent to which nonsense words from an alleged artificial language express a number of affective states or traits. The test demonstrates appropriate factorial validity and reliabilities. We review findings that support criterion validity and, additionally, present novel variants of this procedure for the assessment of the discrete emotions such as happiness, anger, sadness, and fear.

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