Ep 58: Finding our voice: The neurobiology of vocal learning (with Erich Jarvis)

How did vocal learning evolve? What is special about human language? What brain structures are associated with speech and the many components of spoken language?

On this episode, we talk with Erich Jarvis (@erichjarvis), a professor at Rockefeller University, about the neurobiology of vocal communication. Erich’s ideas draw on the amazing breadth of auditory and vocal capacities among mammals and birds--from learning simple sounds to imitating sounds to producing complex, flexible vocalizations. We also discuss the unique “circuit within a circuit” neural networks of parrots that allow them to create such a rich repertoire of sounds. At the end, we talk about human speech and about what sign language, singing, and our “inner voice” tells us about its evolution.