Nonlinear Model Predicts Diverse Respiratory Patterns of Birdsong

A central aspect of the motor control of birdsong production is the capacity to generate diverse respiratory rhythms, which determine the coarse temporal pattern of song. The neural mechanisms that underlie this diversity of respiratory gestures and the resulting acoustic syllables are largely unknown. We show that the respiratory patterns of the highly complex and variable temporal organization of song in the canary (Serinus canaria) can be generated as solutions of a simple model describing the integration between song control and respiratory centers. This example suggests that subharmonic behavior can play an important role in providing a complex variety of responses with minimal neural substrate.