Biologists have discovered a special group of cells in the cerebral cortex of humans and songbirds that produce signals several tens of times faster than all other neurons, the press service of the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) said.
The cages help birds learn new songs, and humans use instruments, scientists say.
“These cells are critical for coordinating and performing the most challenging activities. Imagine pianists – they have to think and act so quickly that, when performing musical works, they have to constantly rely on the mechanical actions and movements that they practiced during training, ”says Professor Claudio Melo of the research team.
Melo and his colleagues made the discovery through experiments in which they tried to discover mechanisms that help zebra finches – small songbirds of the finch family – learn new tunes.
Such experiments, according to many scientists, are extremely important for understanding how another complex way of communicating with relatives arose – human speech.