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Abstract
Vocal learning is a key component of the human language faculty, and is a
behaviour we share with only a few other species in nature. Perhaps the
best understood example of this phenomenon is bird song, which displays a
number of striking parallels with human language, particularly in its development.
In this talk I will present a simple computational model of bird song development
and then use this in a model of evolution to investigate some of the ecological
conditions under which vocal behaviour can become more or less reliant on
cultural, as opposed to genetic, transmission. I hope that this may shed some
light on factors which may have affected the transition to learned communication
in our own species.
* to get to the Conference Suite, enter at main door at 2 Buccleuch Place from the street, and climb the stairs to the first floor. Enter through the door on the right towards the general office. Go down the internal stairs next to the general office, turn left down the long corridor on the ground floor until you reach an entrance hall. Go down the stairs to your left to the basement and follow the signs to the conference suite.
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