10.5061/DRYAD.K6D43
Anderson, Rindy C.
Florida Atlantic University
Searcy, William A.
University of Miami
Peters, Susan
Duke University
Hughes, Melissa
College of Charleston
DuBois, Adrienne L.
University of Miami
Nowicki, Stephen
Duke University
Data from: Song learning and cognitive ability are not consistently
related in a songbird
Dryad
dataset
2017
Melospiza melodia
Animal communication
song sparrow
Bird song
Holocene
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
IOS-1144995
2017-07-26T00:00:00Z
2017-07-26T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-1053-7
44588 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Learned aspects of song have been hypothesized to signal cognitive ability
in songbirds. We tested this hypothesis in hand-reared song sparrows
(Melospiza melodia) that were tutored with playback of adult songs during
the critical period for song learning. The songs developed by the 19 male
subjects were compared to the model songs to produce two measures of song
learning: the proportion of notes copied from models and the average
spectrogram cross-correlation between copied notes and model notes. Song
repertoire size, which reflects song complexity, was also measured. At 1
year of age, subjects were given a battery of five cognitive tests that
measured speed of learning in the context of a novel foraging task, color
association, color reversal, detour-reaching, and spatial learning.
Bivariate correlations between the three song measures and the five
cognitive measures revealed no significant associations. As in other
studies of avian cognition, different cognitive measures were for the most
part not correlated with each other, and this result remained true when 22
hand-reared female song sparrows were added to the analysis. General
linear mixed models controlling for effects of neophobia and nest of
origin indicated that all three song measures were associated with better
performance on color reversal and spatial learning but were associated
with worse performance on novel foraging and detour-reaching. Overall, the
results do not support the hypothesis that learned aspects of song signal
cognitive ability.
song sparrow cognition dataSheet1 gives data on 19 hand-reared male song
sparrows including their neophobia scores, their results on five cognitive
tests (novel foraging, color association, color reversal, spatial
learning, and detour reaching) and three measures of song (proportion of
notes copied, average cross correlation, and repertoire size). Sheet2
gives data on cognitive test results for the 19 hand-reared male plus 22
hand-reared female song sparrows, including neophobia scores and scores on
the same five cognitive tests.
North America