Auditory Perception of Conspecific and Heterospecific Vocalizations in Birds: Evidence for Special Processes
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
1992 |
Authors: |
Robert J. Dooling, Susan D. Brown, Georg M. Klump, Kazuo Okanoya |
Publication/Journal: |
Journal of Comparative Psychology |
Keywords: |
acoustic communication, auditory perception, bird calls, birds, communication |
Abstract:
Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), canaries (Serinus canaria), and zebra finches (Poephila guttata castanotis) were tested for their ability to discriminate among distance calls of each species. For comparison, starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were tested on the same sounds. Response latencies to detect a change in a repeating background of sound were taken as a measure of the perceptual similarity among calls. All 4 species showed clear evidence of 3 perceptual categories corresponding to the calls of the 3 species. Also, budgerigars, canaries, and zebra finches showed an enhanced ability to discriminate among calls of their own species over the calls of others. Starlings discriminated more efficiently among canary calls than among budgerigar or zebra finch calls. Results show species differences in discrimination of species-specific acoustic communication signals and provide insight into the nature of specialized perceptual processes.