Song memory in female birds neuronal activation suggests phonological coding

Male Bengalese finches sing complex song sequences during courtship. To examine the female perception of sequence complexity, we tested female auditory processing with respect to sequential differences in the caudomedial nidopallium and caudomedial mesopallium. Repeated song presentations caused lower expression of the immediate early gene ZENK; however, consecutive presentation of a new song reinduced full ZENK expression. We presented a sequence-shuffled version of the father's song after repeated presentation of the original (unmodified) father's song. The shuffled songs caused lower ZENK expression in both the caudomedial nidopallium and caudomedial mesopallium. Although phonological differences caused full ZENK expression, sequential differences in song elements did not induce ZENK expression. Thus, it appears that female song perception is based on phonological, rather than sequential, information.