Respiration Monitoring During Introductory Notes of Zebra Finch Song

Abstract

Thoracic air sac pressure of zebra finches was recorded during the song to study the correlation between respiration and introductory notes (INs) of their song. Introductory notes are short vocalizations preceding the song of the bird. They are thought to be part of motor preparatory activity happening in the brain before the song. But this hypothesis has been challenged by the existence of birds without Introductory notes and the fact that their number and acoustic structure of them can be influenced by learning. Here we try to see if motor preparation is done through respiratory modulations regardless of INs.