AND WELCOME TO THE WEDNESDAY

AFTERNOON LECTURE SERIES.

I'M FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE

ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS.

TODAY'S TALK IS IMPORTANT

BECAUSE UNDERSTANDING VOICE,

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE AND THEIR

ASSOCIATED DISORDERS IS CRITICAL

FOR HUMAN PATIENTS BECAUSE THE

COMMUNICATION HAS DEVASTATING

EFFECTS ON COMMUNICATION

DISORDERS INCLUDING STROKES, DIX

LEXIA AND MANY OTHERS.

SO IDENTIFYING ANIMAL MODELS FOR

A TRAIT HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE.

AND BUT SONG BIRDS HAVE PROVEN

TO BE A USEFUL MODEL FOR AFFECTS

OF VOCAL LEARNING AND

PRODUCTION.

AND TODAY'S SPEAKER, DR. ERIC

YAFFE SIS A PIONEER IN IN FIELD.

-- PUBLISHED OVER 60 ARTICLES

INCLUDING A SERIES OF SEMINOLE

STUDIES IN THE LATE 1990s WITH

DR. FERNANDO.

HE IS ALSO WELL-KNOWN FOR HIS

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL

JOURNEY TOWARDS A CAREER IN

RESEARCH.

HE WAS BORN AND GREW UP IN

HARLEM, NEW YORK, WHERE HE

ATTENDED A MAJOR AT THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE

PERFORMING ARTS.

HE WAS OFFERED DANCE

SCHOLARSHIPS WITH THE JAFFRAY

BALLET AND WITH THE DANCE

SCHOOL, BUT DECIDED INSTEAD TO

ATTEND HUNTER COLLEGE WHERE HE

RECEIVED A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN

MATHEMATICS AND BIOLOGY.

HE THEN PURSUED GRADUATE AND

POST GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP

TRAINING AT ROCKEFELLER WHERE HE

EARNED HIS Ph.D. IN MOLECULAR

NEUROBIOLOGY AND BEGAN HIS LIFE

ON WORK IN VOCAL LEARNING IN

SONG BIRDS WITH.

IN 1998, HE JOINED DUKE

UNIVERSITY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF

NEUROBIOLOGY WHERE HE RISEN

THROUGH THE FACULTY RANKS TO A

TENURED POSITION AS WELL AS MANY

SECONDARY APPOINTMENTS.

HE RECEIVED DOZENS OF AWARDS AND

WIDE RECOGNITION AND IS THE

SOURCE OF CVMD FOR ME AND IN

2002, HE RECEIVED AT WELL -- THE

ALLEN WATERMAN AWARD, THE

HIGHEST AWARD FOR YOUNG

INVESTIGATORS GIVEN ANNUAL TOW

ONE SCIENTIST OR ENGINEER UNDER

THE AGE OF 35 AND MADE A

SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERY IN

SCIENCE.

AND JUST A FEW OF THE OTHER

AWARDS IN 2005, HE RECEIVED THE

NIH DIRECTOR'S PIONEER AWARD AND

IN 2008, HE BECAME A HOWARD

HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE

INVESTIGATOR AND THEN 2012,

HE'LL DELIVER THE WEDNESDAY

AFTERNOON LECTURE SERIES.

SO WELCOME TO DR. JARVIS.

[ APPLAUSE ]

>> THANK YOU FOR TRA

INTRODUCTION.

SO, I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SAY

THIS, THIS IS A BIG LECTURE HERE

SO I HOPE NOT TO DISAPPOINT.

I'M GOING GOING TO TRY TO KEEP IT

GENERAL.

AND ALSO ENCOURAGE IF THERE IS

SOMETHING WE DON'T UNDERSTAND IN

THE MIDDLE, SO, MY GUESS IS

UNDERSTANDING BRAIN MECHANISM OF

COMPLEX BEHAVIORAL TRAITS AND

THE PARTICULAR TRAITS THEY

STUDIED MOST IS BOTH LEARNING

BECAUSE IT'S CONSIDERED ONE OF

THE CRITICAL BEHAVIORAL

SUBSTRATES OF THE SPOKEN

LANGUAGE.

AND WHEN I BEGAN THIS PROJECT,

THE ASSUMPTIONS WAS THAT WE HAVE

HUMANS WHO ARE VOCAL LEARNERS

AND WE USE THAT BEHAVIOR TO

PRODUCE AND IMITATE OUR SPEECHES

AND SONG BIRDS WHO ARE TEND TO

BE MODEL SPECIES FOR THIS TRAIT

AS THAT'S THE ANIMAL MODEL THAT

FITS CLOSELY TO WHAT WE CAN SAY

IS LIKE SPEECH AND THEN MICE WHO

ARE CONSIDERED NON-VOCAL

LEARNERS.

THAT'S WHERE I'M BEGINNING.

AND I'M GOING TALK TO YOU ABOUT

ADDRESSING THAT QUESTION.

IS THAT REALLY TRUE?

AND AT WORK, AS IN MOST LABS,

IT'S NOT JUST DONE BY ONE

PERSON, BUT DONE BY MULTIPLE

PEOPLE.

IT WAS DONE BY TWO PEOPLE IN MY

LAB, ONE WHO GRADUATED AS DONE A

SHORT POSTDOC IN MY LAB, AND THE

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT.

AND THEY REALLY DID A TOUR DE

FORCE PROJECT OVER A NUMBER OF

YEARS THAT I'M GOING TO TELL YOU

ABOUT.

WHAT IS VOCAL LEARNING AND WHO

IS VOCAL LEARNING?

VOCAL LEARNING IS THE ABILITY

FOE IMITATE SOUNDS THAT YOU

HEAR.

SOME SPECIES CAN DO IT

PROLIFICALLY LIKE HUMANS AND

SOME ARE LIMITED OTHERS CAN

IMITATE THOUSANDS OF SOUNDS.

WHEN VOCAL LEARNING IS PRESENT,

WHAT WE SEE AMONG THE MAMMALIAN

TREE, BIRD FAMILY TREE, IT'S

RELATIVELY SPARSE.

SO HERE IS ONE VIEW OF A MAMMAL

FAMILY TREE AND REGARDLESS OF

THE VIEW THAT YOU LOOK AT, YOU

WILL SEE THAT THOSE THAT ARE

VOCAL LEARNERS THAT I HIGHLIGHT

IN RED, ELEPHANTS, DOLPHINS AND

BATS, WHALES AS WELL AND AMONG

PRIMATE, ONLY HUMANS, NOT ONLY

PRIMATES, IS SPARSELY

DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE MAMMALIAN

FAMILY TREE.

THE SAME THING FOR BIRDS.

SO WE HAVE ROUGHLY 28 ORDERS OF

BIRDS HERE AND WE HAVE HUMMING

BIRDS AND PARROTS AND SONG BIRDS

THAT ARE THE VOCAL LEARNERS.

THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM AUDITORY

LEARN COMING IS THE ABILITY TO

PROCESS NOVEL SOUNDS AND LEARN

AUDITORY LEARNING DOESN'T MEAN

YOU AUTOMATICALLY HAVE VOCAL

LEARNING.

IT'S ARGUED THAT THE ABILITY OF

VOCAL LEARNING EVOLVED

INDEPENDENTLY ALSO IN BIRDS.

ONE POSSIBILITY IS THAT THERE IS

A NEW VIEW OF THE AVIAN FAMILY

TREE, SOME 16 GENETIC MARKERS

ARGUED THAT PARROTS RELATIVE TO

SONG BIRDS, THE POSSIBILITY

LEADING TO MAYBE TWO INDEPENDENT

GAINS OF VOCAL LEARNING.

ONE IN THE HUMMING BIRDS AND ONE

IN PARENTS AND SONG BIRDS.

A COMMON ANCESTOR WITH VOCAL

MUTATION IN CHAM PAN SEES LOSING

THAT ABILITY IN HUMANS

MAINTAINING IT.

SO HOW FAR THIS EVOLVED, IT'S

FASCINATING BUT IT'S ALL ALONG

ASSUMED THAT RODE ENDS HAVE OR

DO NOT HAVE THIS ABILITY.

ONCE A SPECIES HAS IT, IT SEEMS

TO COME ALONG WITH A PACKAGE OF

TRAITS.

AND THAT PACKAGE, I LISTED IN

SEVERAL BULLET POINTS HERE, IS

THAT WE DEPEND UPON AUDITORY