Bullfinches learn from human teachers to sing melodies
accurately, according to a new study by the late Nicolai Jürgen and researchers
from the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. Their analysis of human
melody singing in bullfinches gives insights into the songbirds' brain
processes. The work is published online in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.
Music performance is considered to be one of the most
complex and demanding cognitive challenges that the human mind can undertake.
Melody singing requires precise timing of several organized actions as well as
accurate control of different pitches and durations of consecutive notes.