Zebra finches, a species of songbirds, learn to sing by creating an auditory template through the memorization of model songs (sensory learning phase) and subsequently translating these perceptual memories into motor skills (sensorimotor learning phase). It has been traditionally believed that babbling in juvenile birds initiates the sensorimotor phase while the sensory phase of song learning precedes the onset of babbling. However, our findings challenge this notion by demonstrating that testosterone-induced premature babbling actually triggers the onset of the sensory learning phase instead. We reveal that juvenile birds must engage in babbling and self-listening to acquire the tutor song as the template. Notably, the sensory learning of the template in songbirds requires motor vocal activity, reflecting the observation that prelinguistic babbling in humans plays a crucial role in auditory learning for language acquisition.

中文翻译：

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牙牙学语开启了模仿声音学习的感觉阶段

斑胸草雀是一种鸣禽，通过记忆示范歌曲（感觉学习阶段）创建听觉模板来学习唱歌，然后将这些感知记忆转化为运动技能（感觉运动学习阶段）。传统上认为，幼鸟的咿呀学语启动了感觉运动阶段，而学习歌曲的感觉阶段先于咿呀学语的开始。然而，我们的研究结果挑战了这一观点，证明睾酮引起的过早牙牙学语实际上反而触发了感觉学习阶段的开始。我们发现，幼鸟必须通过咿呀学语和自听来获得导师歌曲作为模板。值得注意的是，鸣禽对模板的感觉学习需要运动发声活动，这反映了人类语言前的咿呀学语在语言习得的听觉学习中起着至关重要的作用的观察结果。