caa a22 4500 605542287 CHVBK 20210128100920.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10071-015-0855-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10071-015-0855-3 Pauses enhance chunk recognition in song element strings by zebra finches [Elektronische Daten] [Michelle Spierings, Anouk de Weger, Carel ten Cate] When learning a language, it is crucial to know which syllables of a continuous sound string belong together as words. Human infants achieve this by attending to pauses between words or to the co-occurrence of syllables. It is not only humans that can segment a continuous string. Songbirds learning their song tend to copy ‘chunks' from one or more tutors' songs and combine these into their own song. In the tutor songs, these chunks are often separated by pauses and a high co-occurrence of elements, suggestingthat these features affect chunking and song learning. We examined experimentally whether the presence of pauses and element co-occurrence affect the ability of adult zebra finches to discriminate strings of song elements. Using a go/no-go design, two groups of birds were trained to discriminate between two strings. In one group (Pause-group), pauses were inserted between co-occurring element triplets in the strings, and in the other group (No-pause group), both strings were continuous. After making a correct discrimination, an individual proceeded to a reversal training using string segments. Segments were element triplets consistent in co-occurrence, triplets that were partly consistent in composition and triplets consisting of elements that did not co-occur in the strings. The Pause-group was faster in discriminating between the two strings. This group also responded differently to consistent triplets in the reversal training, compared to inconsistent triplets. The No-pause group did not differentiate among the triplet types. These results indicate that pauses in strings of song elements aid song discrimination and memorization of co-occurring element groups. The Author(s), 2015 Songbirds nationallicence Zebra finch nationallicence String learning nationallicence Chunking nationallicence Vocal perception nationallicence Song learning nationallicence Spierings Michelle Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands aut de Weger Anouk Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands aut ten Cate Carel Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands aut Animal Cognition Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/4(2015-07-01), 867-874 1435-9448 18:4<867 2015 18 10071 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0855-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0855-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Spierings Michelle Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- de Weger Anouk Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- ten Cate Carel Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Animal Cognition Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/4(2015-07-01), 867-874 1435-9448 18:4<867 2015 18 10071