The Physics of BirdsongSpringer Science & Business Media, 2005 M08 2 - 157 páginas In recent years birdsong has developed into an extremely interesting problem for researchers in several branches of the scientific community. The reason is that of the approximately 10,000 species of birds known to exist, some 4000 share with humans (and just a few other species in the animal kingdom) a remarkable feature: their acquisition of vocalization requires a certain degree of exposure to a tutor. Between the complex neural architecture involved in the process and the song itself, stands a delicate apparatus that the bird must control with incredible precision. This book deals with the physical mechanisms at work in the production of birdsong, the acoustic effects that the avian vocal organ is capable of generating, and the nature of the neural instructions needed to drive it. The book provides fascinating reading for physicists, biologists and general readers alike. |
Contenido
Elements of the Description | 1 |
112 Getting Serious | 2 |
113 Sound as a Physical Phenomenon | 3 |
114 Sound Waves | 5 |
115 Detecting Sound | 6 |
12 Frequency and Amplitude | 7 |
122 Intensity of Sound | 9 |
132 Adding up Waves | 11 |
612 Subharmonics | 81 |
62 Acoustic Feedback | 82 |
623 Coupling Between Source and Vocal Tract | 83 |
63 Labia with Structure | 86 |
632 The TwoMass Model | 87 |
633 Asymmetries | 89 |
64 Choosing Between Two Models | 91 |
641 Signatures of Interaction Between Sources | 93 |
14 Sonograms | 13 |
142 Building a Sonogram | 14 |
Sources and Filters | 17 |
212 Mechanisms for Generating Sound | 20 |
22 Filters and Resonances | 22 |
222 Traveling Waves | 23 |
223 Resonances | 25 |
224 Modes and Natural Frequencies | 26 |
225 Standing Waves | 28 |
23 Filtering a Signal | 32 |
232 Actual Filtering | 33 |
233 The Emission from a Tube | 34 |
Anatomy of the Vocal Organ | 37 |
312 Morphological Diversity | 38 |
32 The Oscine Syrinx | 41 |
322 The Role of the Muscles | 42 |
323 Vocal Learners and Intrinsic Musculature | 44 |
331 The Example of the Pigeons | 45 |
34 Respiration | 46 |
The Sources of Sound in Birdsong | 47 |
412 Energy Losses | 49 |
42 Nonlinear Oscillators | 50 |
423 Nonlinear Forces and Nonlinear Oscillators | 51 |
43 Oscillations in the Syrinx | 54 |
432 SelfSustained Oscillations | 56 |
433 Controlling the Oscillations | 58 |
44 Filtering the Signal | 59 |
The Instructions for the Syrinx | 61 |
512 Bifurcations | 63 |
52 The Construction of Syllables | 66 |
522 Paths in Parameter Space | 68 |
a Prediction | 70 |
54 Experimental Support | 72 |
55 Lateralization | 76 |
Complex Oscillations | 79 |
642 Modeling Two Acoustically Interacting Sources | 95 |
643 Interact Dont Interact | 96 |
Synthesizing Birdsong | 99 |
711 Eulers Method | 100 |
713 Listening to Numerical Solutions | 102 |
72 Analog Integration | 103 |
722 An Electronic Syrinx | 105 |
73 Playback Experiments | 108 |
741 Definition of Impedance | 109 |
742 Impedance of a Pipe | 110 |
From the Syrinx to the Brain | 113 |
81 The Motor Pathway | 114 |
82 The AFP Pathway | 115 |
What for? | 116 |
831 Building Blocks for Modeling Brain Activity | 117 |
84 Conceptual Models and Computational Models | 119 |
841 Simulating the Activity of HVC Neurons | 120 |
842 Simulating the Activity of RA Neurons | 124 |
843 Qualitative Predictions | 126 |
86 Computational Models and Learning | 127 |
87 Rate Models | 129 |
88 Lights and Shadows of Modeling Brain Activity | 132 |
Complex Rhythms | 133 |
92 Duets | 135 |
922 A Devils Staircase | 136 |
923 Test Duets | 137 |
93 Nonlinear Dynamics | 140 |
932 Periodic Forcing | 141 |
933 Stable Periodic Solutions | 142 |
934 Locking Organization | 143 |
94 Respiration | 146 |
95 Body and Brain | 148 |
References | 151 |