Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration
Human language learning and maintenance depend primarily on auditory feedback but are also shaped by other sensory modalities. Individuals who become deaf after learning to speak (post-lingual deafness) experience a gradual decline in their language abilities. A similar process occurs in songbirds,...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1521407/full |
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| author | Manon Rolland Anja T. Zai Anja T. Zai Richard H. R. Hahnloser Richard H. R. Hahnloser Catherine Del Negro Nicolas Giret |
| author_facet | Manon Rolland Anja T. Zai Anja T. Zai Richard H. R. Hahnloser Richard H. R. Hahnloser Catherine Del Negro Nicolas Giret |
| author_sort | Manon Rolland |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human language learning and maintenance depend primarily on auditory feedback but are also shaped by other sensory modalities. Individuals who become deaf after learning to speak (post-lingual deafness) experience a gradual decline in their language abilities. A similar process occurs in songbirds, where deafness leads to progressive song deterioration. However, songbirds can modify their songs using non-auditory cues, challenging the prevailing assumption that auditory feedback is essential for vocal control. In this study, we investigated whether deafened birds could use visual cues to prevent or limit song deterioration. We developed a new metric for assessing syllable deterioration called the spectrogram divergence score. We then trained deafened birds in a behavioral task where the spectrogram divergence score of a target syllable was computed in real-time, triggering a contingent visual stimulus based on the score. Birds exposed to the contingent visual stimulus—a brief light extinction—showed more stable song syllables than birds that received either no light extinction or randomly triggered light extinction. Notably, this effect was specific to the targeted syllable and did not influence other syllables. This study demonstrates that deafness-induced song deterioration in birds can be partially mitigated with visual cues. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4455f1f85eaf4224bb8fd8cca1f87f98 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-4455f1f85eaf4224bb8fd8cca1f87f982025-02-06T07:09:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-02-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15214071521407Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deteriorationManon Rolland0Anja T. Zai1Anja T. Zai2Richard H. R. Hahnloser3Richard H. R. Hahnloser4Catherine Del Negro5Nicolas Giret6Institut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris Saclay, Saclay, FranceInstitute of Neuroinformatics, ETH Zurich and UZH, Zurich, SwitzerlandNeuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ), University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandInstitute of Neuroinformatics, ETH Zurich and UZH, Zurich, SwitzerlandNeuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ), University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandInstitut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris Saclay, Saclay, FranceInstitut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris Saclay, Saclay, FranceHuman language learning and maintenance depend primarily on auditory feedback but are also shaped by other sensory modalities. Individuals who become deaf after learning to speak (post-lingual deafness) experience a gradual decline in their language abilities. A similar process occurs in songbirds, where deafness leads to progressive song deterioration. However, songbirds can modify their songs using non-auditory cues, challenging the prevailing assumption that auditory feedback is essential for vocal control. In this study, we investigated whether deafened birds could use visual cues to prevent or limit song deterioration. We developed a new metric for assessing syllable deterioration called the spectrogram divergence score. We then trained deafened birds in a behavioral task where the spectrogram divergence score of a target syllable was computed in real-time, triggering a contingent visual stimulus based on the score. Birds exposed to the contingent visual stimulus—a brief light extinction—showed more stable song syllables than birds that received either no light extinction or randomly triggered light extinction. Notably, this effect was specific to the targeted syllable and did not influence other syllables. This study demonstrates that deafness-induced song deterioration in birds can be partially mitigated with visual cues.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1521407/fullvocal controldeafeningsensorimotorsongbirdsensory feedbackdegradation |
| spellingShingle | Manon Rolland Anja T. Zai Anja T. Zai Richard H. R. Hahnloser Richard H. R. Hahnloser Catherine Del Negro Nicolas Giret Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration Frontiers in Psychology vocal control deafening sensorimotor songbird sensory feedback degradation |
| title | Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration |
| title_full | Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration |
| title_fullStr | Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration |
| title_short | Visually-guided compensation of deafening-induced song deterioration |
| title_sort | visually guided compensation of deafening induced song deterioration |
| topic | vocal control deafening sensorimotor songbird sensory feedback degradation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1521407/full |
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