1. animal vocal communication
MEDS 371
Human speech and
animal vocal communication
Dr. Duck O. Kim

2. zebra finches zebra finch song female female male male
zebra finch song
Click to hear sound

3. spectrogram of a male zebra finch song
frequency (kHz)
4 syllables
sequence of syllables -> motif
motif ~ word
Purves Box 24-B

4. spectrogram of humpback
whale calls/songs
humpback whale
calls/songs
A spectrogram of calls/songs by several individual humpback whales; Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Click to hear sound

5. frequency (kHz) time (sec) spectrogram of a male mouse song Click to
hear sound
time (sec)

6. spectrograms of human speech
0.5 sec
Doupe & Kuhl
1999

7. zebra finch song human speech freq. (kHz) freq. (kHz) 4 2 0.5 sec
freq. (kHz)
freq. (kHz)
0.5 sec
0.5 sec

8. chronology of song acquisition in zebra finches
Doupe et al., 2005

9. Zebra finch
human
Jarvis et al., 2005

10. basal ganglia of mammal and bird
striatum
globus
pallidus
Doupe et al., 2005

11. Model of the birdsong system plasticity (key slide of this lecture)
auditory
feedback (FB)
eval. aud. FB re template
(basal gang.)
auditory
system
instr. (error)
signal
song
production
system
(motor)
song
adapted from Brainard & Doupe 2000

12. HVC, RA, & LMAN: cortex homolog RA: upper motor neurons
the song system of zebra finch
SNc/VTA
auditory input
lower motor n.
-> vocal organ
area X: basal ganglia
DLM: thalamus
SNc/VTA: midbrain
HVC, RA, & LMAN: cortex homolog
RA: upper motor neurons
Doupe et al., 2005

13. zebra finch song; a normal adult
Doupe et al., 2005
The normal adult song consists of motifs of a
stereotyped sequence of syllables.

14. others: cortex homolog
zebra finch song; area X lesioned in a juvenile
SNc/VTA
area X: BG
DLM: thalamus
SNc/VTA: midbrain
others: cortex homolog
Doupe et al., 2005
The song remains immature and highly variable.
normal song of zebra finch
abnormal song of deaf zebra finch

15. X X X X Model of the birdsong system plasticity auditory feedback
eval. aud. FB
(basal gang.) X
instr. (error)
signal
aud.
percep. X
deafness
Brainard & Doupe 2000
adapted from
song motor
system
song X
deterioration
normal song of zebra finch
abnormal song of deaf zebra finch

16. In adult humans and song birds,
speech and song deteriorate when deafness
is encountered at an adult age.
This is not the result of a passive process
but it reflects an active adaptive plasticity
involving the basal ganglia.
The basal ganglia mediates adulthood
sensorimotor adaptive plasticity.

17. human speech / language

18. MI SI arcuate fasciculus Broca’s area Wernicke’s area AI
Haines Fig 16-13

19. large stroke in large stroke in the right cortex the left cortex
neglect of
left body/space
& other symptoms
large stroke in
the left cortex
aphasia
& other symptoms
Purves Fig 26-6

20. PET imaging under various speech tasks
viewing words
speaking words
listening to words
generating word associations
Purves Fig 27-6

21. three major types of aphasia
Broca’s aphasia
Wernicke’s aphasia
global aphasia

22. Purves Table 27-1

23. genetic deficit of speech function
An inherited deficit in spoken language has been associated with a mutation in FOXP2 gene on chromosome 7.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging study has linked the deficit to underactivity in Broca's area during word generation.
Possible link between FOXP2 and the mirror-neuron system observed in the primate homologue of Broca's area.
This link might have implications for the evolution of Broca's area and its role in speech (a new gene).
Reference:
Vargha-Khadem et al FOXP2 and the neuroanatomy of
speech and language. Nature Rev 6: