Researcher Explores What Songbirds Can Teach Us About the Brain

Professor Sarah Woolley does research on males who mate for life and help out around the home. If you asked where these creatures can be found, she might direct your attention outdoors. Sarah Woolley talks about the significance of bird songs and how they are useful in researching human development disorders. For Woolley, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychology, studies songbirds and what their exemplary mating life might tell us about the human brain. Her work could shed light on afflictions ranging from hearing loss in menopausal women to speech difficulties experienced by autistic children. "Songbirds, like humans, have the rare ability to learn complex vocalization—what we call 'song,'" explains Woolley. "This makes them very important for studying vocal communication and auditory perception." She primarily focuses on zebra, Bengalese and blackheart finches, which learn to sing from their parents, just as humans learn speech from their parents.