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>> GOOD AFTERNOON.
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