Acoustic mechanisms of a species-based discrimination of the chick-a-dee call in sympatric black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (P. gambeli)

Previous perceptual research with black-capped and mountain chickadees has demonstrated that these species treat each other’s namesake chick-a-dee calls as belonging to separate, open-ended categories. Further, the terminal dee portion of the call has been implicated as the most prominent species marker. However, statistical classification using acoustic summary features suggests that all note-types contained within the chick-a-dee call should be sufficient for species classification. The current study seeks to better understand the note-type based mechanisms underlying species-based classification of the chick-a-dee call by black-capped and mountain chickadees. In two, complementary, operant discrimination experiments, both species were trained to discriminate the species of the signaler using either entire chick-a-dee calls, or individual note-types from chick-a-dee calls. In agreement with previous perceptual work we find that the D note had significant stimulus control over species-based discrimination. However, in line with statistical classifications, we find that all note-types carry species information. We discuss reasons why the most easily discriminated note-types are likely candidates to carry species-based cues.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Sex Differences in Rhythmic Preferences in the Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus): A Comparative Study with Humans

A variety of parrot species have recently gained attention as members of a small group of non-human animals that are capable of coordinating their movements in time with a rhythmic pulse. This capacity is highly developed in humans, who display unparalleled sensitivity to musical beats and appear to prefer rhythmically organized sounds in their music. Do parrots also exhibit a preference for rhythmic over arrhythmic sounds? Here we presented humans and budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) – a small parrot species that have been shown to be able to align movements with a beat – with rhythmic and arrhythmic sound patterns in an acoustic place preference paradigm. Both species were allowed to explore an environment for 5 minutes. We quantified how much time they spent in proximity to rhythmic vs. arrhythmic stimuli. The results show that humans spent more time with rhythmic stimuli, and also preferred rhythmic stimuli when directly asked in a post-test survey. Budgerigars did not show any such overall preferences. However, further examination of the budgerigar results showed an effect of sex, such that male budgerigars spent more time with arrthymic stimuli, and female budgerigars spent more time with rhythmic stimuli. Our results support the idea that rhythmic information is interesting to budgerigars. We suggest that future investigations into the temporal characteristics of naturalistic social behaviors in budgerigars, such as courtship vocalizations and head-bobbing displays, may help explain the sex difference we observed

Categories, concepts, and calls : auditory perceptual mechanisms and cognitive abilities across different types of birds.

Although involving different animals, preparations, and objectives, our laboratories (Sturdy's and Cook's) are mutually interested in category perception and concept formation. The Sturdy laboratory has a history of studying perceptual categories in songbirds, while Cook laboratory has a history of studying abstract concept formation in pigeons. Recently, we undertook a suite of collaborative projects to combine our investigations to examine abstract concept formation in songbirds, and perception of songbird vocalizations in pigeons. This talk will include our recent findings of songbird category perception, songbird abstract concept formation (same/different task), and early results from pigeons' processing of songbird vocalizations in a same/different task. Our findings indicate that (1) categorization in birds seems to be most heavily influenced by acoustic, rather than genetic or experiential factors (2) songbirds treat their vocalizations as perceptual categories, both at the level of the note and species/whole call, (3) chickadees, like pigeons, can perceive abstract, same-different relations, and (4) pigeons are not as good at discriminating chickadee vocalizations as songbirds (chickadees and finches). Our findings suggest that although there are commonalities in complex auditory processing among birds, there are potentially important comparative differences between songbirds and non-songbirds in their treatment of certain types of auditory objects.Publisher PD

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sensitive to changes in a vocal discrimination task Sometimes slower is better: slow-exploring birds are more Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9 Animal personality, defined as consistent individual differences across context and time, has attracted much recent research interest in the study of animal behaviour. More recently, this field has begun to examine how such variation arose and is maintained within populations. The habitat-dependent selection hypothesis, which posits that animals with differing personality types may fare better (i.e. have a fitness advantage) in different habitats, suggests one possible mechanism. In the current experiment, we tested whether slow-and fast-exploring black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), determined by performance in a novel environment exploration task, perform differentially when the demands of an acoustic operant discrimination (cognitive) task were altered following successful task acquisition. We found that slow-exploring birds learn to reverse previously learned natural category rules more quickly than faster exploring conspecifics. In accordance with the habitat-dependent selection hypothesis, and previous work with great tits (Parus major), a close relative of the black-capped chickadee, our results suggest that fast-exploring birds may perform better in stable, predictable environments where forming a routine is advantageous, while slow-exploring birds are favoured in unstable, unpredictable environments, where task demands often change. Our results also support a hypothesis derived from previous work with great tits; slow-exploring birds may be generally more flexible (i.e. able to modify their behaviour in accordance with changes in environmental stimuli) in some learning tasks

The role of spirituality in treatment of patients and work of health care workers

Duhovnost kao specifična dimenzija čovjekove osobnosti u medicini je prepoznata tek u posljednjih dvadesetak godina kao važan čimbenik u procesu izlječenja i odnosa zdravstveni djelatnik – bolesnik. U tu su svrhu provedena brojna istraživanja među pacijentima glede njihova religioznog svjetonazora i vjerničke duhovnosti kako bi se proniknulo što dublje i stekle što sveobuhvatnije spoznaje o utjecaju vjere i duhovnosti na ljudsko zdravlje. Kolika je važnost duhovnosti u suvremenoj medicini, posebice psihologiji, svjedoči i činjenica što su mnoge svjetske akademske institucije uvrstile duhovnost u programe redovite izobrazbe zdravstvenih djelatnika. Djelovanje zdravstvenog osoblja temelji se na kvalitetnom međuljudskom odnosu prema bolesnicima o kojima skrbe. Ovaj je odnos obilježen “povjerenjem” čovjeka koji je pogođen bolešću, ali se uzda u “savjest” i stručnost liječnika koji ga liječi i medicinske sestre koja ga njeguje. Ovaj se interpersonalni odnos temelji na pretpostavci da bolesnik nije samo “klinički slučaj”. Odnos, dakle, mora biti mnogo dublji, cjelovitiji, jer nije bolesno samo njegovo tijelo, nego je bolest zahvatila cijelu osobu, sa svim njezinim duševnim i duhovnim komponentama. Upravo zato zdravstveno osoblje treba biti osposobljeno prepoznati i procijeniti duhovne potrebe pacijenta. Dužnost je zdravstvenog djelatnika stvoriti ozračje međusobnog poštovanja kako bi stekao povjerenje bolesnika koji će potom očitovati svoje tegobe i osjećaje pa i duhovne potrebe. Zdravstveni djelatnik treba biti čuvar i služitelj ljudskoga života, što pretpostavlja integralni pristup fenomenu zdravlja i bolesti. Bez obzira na osobno vjersko uvjerenje ili svjetonazor zdravstveni je djelatnik pozvan u svom profesionalnom odnosu prema bolesniku poštivati i zagovarati temeljne moralne vrijednosti: dostojanstvo ljudske osobe i nepovrjedivost ljudskoga života na svim razinama: tjelesnoj, emocionalnoj, društvenoj i duhovnoj. Za liječenje bolesti, dakle, prijeko je potrebno uzeti u obzir ne samo tjelesne, psihološke i društvene, nego i duhovne čimbenike.Spirituality as a specific dimension of human personality has been recognized in medicine not earlier than the last twenty years as an important factor in the healing process and the relationship between the health care worker and patient. For this purpose numerous researches have been carried out among the patients with regard to their religious worldview and spirituality in order to gain a deep and comprehensive understanding of the influence of religion and spirituality on human health. The importance of spirituality in contemporary medicine, especially in psychology, can be seen in the fact that numerous academic institutions in the world have included spirituality in the educational programmes for health care professionals. The activities of health care workers are founded on a good quality relationship to the patients they care for. This relationship is marked by the confidence of the person affected by a disease who believes in the doctor’s conscience and expertise and the nurse’s care. This interpersonal relationship is based on the assumption that the patient is not just a clinical case. Therefore, the relationship should be much deeper and more comprehensive, because not only his body is ill but illness has affected the whole person with his/her mental and spiritual components. That is why health care workers should be qualified to recognize and assess the spiritual needs of the patient. It is the duty of health care workers to create an atmosphere of mutual respect in order to gain the trust of patients who will then manifest their problems and feelings as well as their spiritual needs. The health worker should be a guardian and minister of human life which implies an integral approach to the phenomenon of health and disease. Regardless of personal religious belief or worldview, a health care worker is called in his professional relationship to the patient to respect and advocate the fundamental moral values: human dignity and inviolability of human life at all levels: physical, emotional, social and spiritual. Therefore, in the treatment of diseases it is necessary to take into account not only physical, psychological and social factors, but spiritual factors as well

Neural Correlates of Threat Perception: Neural Equivalence of Conspecific and Heterospecific Mobbing Calls Is Learned

Songbird auditory areas (i.e., CMM and NCM) are preferentially activated to playback of conspecific vocalizations relative to heterospecific and arbitrary noise [1]–[2]. Here, we asked if the neural response to auditory stimulation is not simply preferential for conspecific vocalizations but also for the information conveyed by the vocalization. Black-capped chickadees use their chick-a-dee mobbing call to recruit conspecifics and other avian species to mob perched predators [3]. Mobbing calls produced in response to smaller, higher-threat predators contain more “D” notes compared to those produced in response to larger, lower-threat predators and thus convey the degree of threat of predators [4]. We specifically asked whether the neural response varies with the degree of threat conveyed by the mobbing calls of chickadees and whether the neural response is the same for actual predator calls that correspond to the degree of threat of the chickadee mobbing calls. Our results demonstrate that, as degree of threat increases in conspecific chickadee mobbing calls, there is a corresponding increase in immediate early gene (IEG) expression in telencephalic auditory areas. We also demonstrate that as the degree of threat increases for the heterospecific predator, there is a corresponding increase in IEG expression in the auditory areas. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the amount IEG expression between conspecific mobbing calls or heterospecific predator calls that were the same degree of threat. In a second experiment, using hand-reared chickadees without predator experience, we found more IEG expression in response to mobbing calls than corresponding predator calls, indicating that degree of threat is learned. Our results demonstrate that degree of threat corresponds to neural activity in the auditory areas and that threat can be conveyed by different species signals and that these signals must be learned