The Physics of Birdsong

Portada
Springer 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.

 

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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
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