The power of face time: Insights from zebra finch courtship

A new study on songbirds sheds light on the power of social interaction to facilitate learning, insights that potentially apply to human development.

McGill University researchers discovered that zebra finches deprived of early social experiences could still form strong bonds with a partner later in life. Once placed into cohabitation with a male, females that had never heard a mating song before could quickly develop a preference for his melody.

The findings, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, challenge the belief that early experiences alone are critical for learning song preference.

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