Low-dimensional dynamical model for the diversity of pressure patterns used in canary song

Abstract

During song production, oscine birds produce large air sac pressure pulses. During those pulses, energy is transferred to labia located at the juncture between the bronchii and the trachea, inducing the high frequency labial oscillations which are responsible for airflow modulations, i.e., the uttered sound. In order to generate diverse syllables, canaries (Serinus canaria) use a set of air sac pressure patterns with characteristic shapes. In this work we show that these different shapes can be approximated by the subharmonic solutions of a forced normal form. This simple model is built from identifying dynamical elements which allow to reproduce the shape of the pressure pattern corresponding to one syllable type. Remarkably, integrating that simple model for other parameters allows to recover the other pressure patterns used during song. Interpreting the diversity of these physiological gestures as subharmonic solutions of a simple nonlinear system allows us to account simultaneously for their morphological features as well as for the syllabic timing and suggests a strategy for the generation of complex motor patterns. © 2009 The American Physical Society.