Early Experiments Discover Lateralization
Lateral dominance of the hypoglossal nerve conveying messages from the brain to the syrinx was first observed in the 1970s. This lateral dominance was determined in a breed of canary, the waterschlager canary, bred for its long and complex song, by lesioning the ipsilateral tracheosyringeal branch of the hypoglossal nerve, disabling either the left or right syrinx. The numbers of song elements in the birds’ repertoires were greatly attenuated when the left side was cut, but only modestly attenuated when the right side was disabled, indicating left syringeal dominance of song production in these canaries. Similar lateralized effects have been observed in other species such as the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), the Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) and the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), which is right-side dominant. However, denervation in these birds does not entirely silence the affected syllables but creates qualitative changes in phonology and frequency.
Read more about this topic: Lateralization Of Bird Song
Famous quotes containing the words early, experiments and/or discover:
“I would observe to you that what is called style in writing or speaking is formed very early in life while the imagination is warm, and impressions are permanent.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The man who invented Eskimo Pie made a million dollars, so one is told, but E.E. Cummings, whose verse has been appearing off and on for three years now, and whose experiments should not be more appalling to those interested in poetry than the experiment of surrounding ice-cream with a layer of chocolate was to those interested in soda fountains, has hardly made a dent in the doughy minds of our so-called poetry lovers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“There are some things, my dear Fisher, which do not bear much looking into. You undoubtedly have heard of the Siberian goat herder who tried to discover the true nature of the sun. He stared up at the heavenly body until it made him blind. There are many things of this sort, including love and death.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)