Summary: Oxytocin, often called the “love hormone,” helps shape how young male zebra finches learn to sing by guiding which adult tutors they pay attention to and ultimately imitate.
This research sheds light on the neurochemical mechanisms behind social vocal learning and offers parallels to human language acquisition. The findings may also inform studies of developmental conditions such as autism by highlighting how early social bonds influence learning.
Key Facts:
- Oxytocin, a hormone linked to social bonding and attention, plays an active role in how juvenile male zebra finches choose and learn songs from adult tutors.
- Blocking oxytocin receptors during tutoring sessions biased young finches against the tutor presented at that time, reducing their preference and later imitation of that tutor’s song.
- The study connects the oxytocin system to socially guided vocal learning and offers insights relevant to language development and social attention.
Source: Emory University
Oxytocin influences how young zebra finches learn songs from adult tutors, according to new research by neuroscientists at Emory University.
Published in Scientific Reports, the study clarifies how the oxytocin system contributes to early social attention and motivational processes that support vocal learning in a social context.
“We found that the oxytocin system is involved from an early age in male zebra finches learning song,” says Natalie Pilgeram, the study’s first author and an Emory PhD candidate in psychology. “It’s basic science that may lead to insights into vocal learning across species, including humans.”
Donna Maney, professor of neuroscience in Emory’s Department of Psychology and senior author, adds: “Our results suggest that the neurochemistry of early social bonds during language learning may be relevant to studies of autism.”
Zebra finches are a widely used model for studying social vocal learning because juvenile males learn their species-typical songs by listening to and copying an adult tutor during a sensitive period. In the wild, males usually learn from their father or a foster male caregiver, and the pattern of early attention strongly predicts the song they will sing as adults.
In the study, researchers raised male juveniles without their fathers so the birds would be naïve to adult song. Beginning at day 27, each juvenile received tutoring from two unfamiliar adult males in separate sessions. Before one tutor’s sessions the juvenile was given a compound that blocked oxytocin receptors; before the other tutor’s sessions the juvenile received a control injection that left oxytocin signaling intact.
The team measured preference using an operant setup: each bird could press one of two levers to trigger playback of the two different tutor songs. The juveniles showed a clear early preference for the song heard when oxytocin signaling was normal. When oxytocin receptors were blocked during tutoring, the juveniles were less likely to approach the tutor, showed fewer attentive behaviors, and later showed little preference for that tutor’s song.
As the birds matured, their developmental trajectory resembled previously observed patterns: an early preference for one song followed by a shift during the plastic song phase around puberty, and then crystallization of a single adult song by about day 100. Crucially, the stronger the early preference for the control tutor’s song (the tutor heard with normal oxytocin signaling), the more closely the bird’s adult song matched that tutor’s song.
Behavioral observations supported the mechanistic interpretation. With intact oxytocin signaling, pupils oriented to the tutor’s side of the cage more often and engaged in preening behaviors associated with focused listening. These approach and attention behaviors were reduced when oxytocin receptors were blocked, suggesting oxytocin helps determine where juveniles focus their social attention during learning.
The findings build on the Maney lab’s broader work on hormonal and genetic influences on social behavior. The lab collaborates with researchers at the Marcus Autism Center to explore translational implications for social attention and language learning in humans.
Co-authors include Carlos Rodríguez-Saltos, Nicole Baran, Matthew Davis, Erik Iverson, and Emory undergraduates Sumin Lee, Emily Kim, and Aditya Bhise. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition.
About this Neuroscience research news
Author: Carol Clark
Source: Emory University
Contact: Carol Clark – Emory University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Oxytocin receptor antagonism during early vocal learning reduces song preference and imitation in zebra finches” by Natalie Pilgeram et al., Scientific Reports.
Abstract
Oxytocin receptor antagonism during early vocal learning reduces song preference and imitation in zebra finches
Vocal learning in species such as songbirds depends on early social orienting and dynamic interactions with a tutor during a sensitive period. The authors hypothesized that attentional and motivational processes supporting song learning recruit the oxytocin system, which is known to influence social orienting in other species.
Juvenile male zebra finches naïve to song were tutored by two unfamiliar adult males. Before exposure to one tutor juveniles received a subcutaneous injection of an oxytocin receptor antagonist (OTA); before exposure to the other tutor they received saline as a control. OTA reduced approach and attention behaviors during tutoring. Using an operant preference test that balanced exposure to both tutor songs, juveniles preferred the song heard with intact oxytocin signaling. Their adult songs more closely resembled that tutor’s song, and early preference predicted the degree of later imitation.
Overall, oxytocin antagonism during tutoring biased juveniles against that tutor and his song. The results indicate that oxytocin receptors contribute to socially guided vocal learning by shaping early attention and motivation toward social tutors.