NIH Radio
Songbird Genome Analysis Reveals New Insights – 3
Narrator: This is NIH Health Matters. I’m Joe Balintfy. Scientists who study neurodevelopment, or brain development, often rely on other organisms to better understand humans. Dr. Story Landis, director of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, explains that songbirds are one of the few groups of animals that learn sounds used for vocal communication.
Landis: Like humans, they acquire the capacity for learned vocal communication based on auditory experience and vocal motor practice. In addition, they have highly developed brain regions that control vocal learning. So they provide a really wonderful model system for understanding neural and behavioral mechanisms of speech in people.
Narrator: For details on brain studies, visit www.ninds.nih.gov. Health Matters is produced by the National Institutes of Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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