That parrots imitate human speech could have more importance than I thought: a group of researchers has discovered that both species use similar brain mechanisms to produce complex sounds, which could help the development of therapies for people who have lost speech.
The study, described on Wednesday in Nature magazine, has discovered a specialized region in the brain of parrots that works in a similar way to the regions of the human brain related to speech, which would make them a good model to study the disorders related to it.
To get to this conclusion, the researchers studied the brain of naval parrots and pinzones taeniopygia guttata ‘, a kind of singing bird known for producing complex vocalizations. Although both species can imitate sounds and have specialized vocal organs, only parrots can produce sounds that mimic human words.
The species of parrot chosen for the study is the one we know as the parakeet, ‘melopsittacus undulatus’.
The researchers, from the Grossman Medicine School of the University of New York, mapped the activity of nerve cells of the brain of both birds while emitting sounds, and their analysis revealed that each species used different regions of the brain to control vocalizations.
The Periquitos use the central nucleus of the Arcopalio, a region of the avian brain that connects with the syringe (the vocal body of the birds) through the brainstem, which allows the production of a diverse range of vocalizations.
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Brain activity of parrots to produce sounds is similar to human
For its part, the zebra pinzón needs more than 100,000 trial tests error to learn a song, and the experiments have confirmed that its brain establishes a fixed pattern of activity through a laborious process based on a lot of essay and to learn from their own failures.
When the parakeets sing, there are certain cells that activate certain tones, by way of when the keys of a piano are pressed, and this pattern resembles the organization of human speech.
The researchers indicate that “humans and parakeets, unlike any other animal studied so far, share a similar connection between the upper brain activity and the production of sounds.”
The authors conclude that this knowledge about the way in which parrots learn to produce sequences of more complex sounds pose the possibility of using them as a model to learn more about speech production and communication disorders in humans.
Among the most common conditions are the apraxia (difficulty planning speech movements) or aphasia (difficulty producing language), which can be a consequence of trauma caused by an stroke.
“An important way to develop new treatments for speech disorders is to find animal models that can offer new knowledge about speaking brain processes. This study shows that the parakeet can be key in this regard,” says one of the authors, the researcher at the University of New York, Zetian Yang.
“The brain processes discovered in the parakeets can help explain the mechanisms that underlie communication disorders that affect millions of people,” adds Michael Long, an expert in otolaryngology-head of head and neck of the University of New York in a statement.
With EFE information.
