UCSF

Learning reflects the influence of experience on genetically determined circuitry, but little is known about how experience and genetics interact to determine complex learned phenotypes. Here, we used vocal learning in songbirds to study how experience and genetics contribute to interindividual differences in learned song. Previous work has established that such differences in song within a species depend on learning, but in principle some of these differences could also depend on genetic variation. We focused on song tempo, a learned and quantifiable feature that is controlled by central neural circuitry. To identify genetic contributions to tempo we computer-tutored juvenile Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica) from different genetic backgrounds with synthetic songs in which tempo was systematically varied. Computer-tutored birds exhibited unexpectedly strong heritability for song tempo and comparatively weak influence of experience. We then tested whether heritability was fixed and independent of experience by providing a second group of birds with enriched instruction via live social tutoring. Live tutoring resulted in not only a significant increase in the influence of experience on tempo but also a dramatic decrease in the influence of genetics, indicating that enriched instruction could overcome genetic biases evident under computer tutoring. Our results reveal strong heritable genetic contributions to interindividual variation in song tempo but that the degree of heritability depends profoundly on the quality of instruction. They suggest that for more complex learned phenotypes, where it can be difficult to identify and control relevant experiential variables, heritability may similarly be contingent on the specifics of experience.