[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Dennis Drayna
Date: 29 Sep 2005
Time: 16:21:37 -0500
Remote Name: 134.29.31.126
Hi Judy, The suitability of birds as model system for human stuttering has always been a little controversial. First, the brains of birds are not especially homologous to those of us mammals, so it's not yet clear that bird vocalizations are generated using similar neurological functions and regions of the brain that we humans use. Second, birds sing but do not speak. When humans who stutter sing, their songs are typically very fluent. So the pitch, melody, and harmony aspects of the two types of vocalization (speaking vs. singing) may be so different that study of one may not inform the other. On the other hand, bird vocalizations have been very well studied and we know a lot about some aspects bird song. So, we may learn some things in the end. Dennis