Learning reflects the influence of experience on genetically determined circuitry, but little is known about how experience and genetics interact to determine complex learned phenotypes. Here, we used vocal learning in songbirds to study how experience and genetics contribute to interindividual differences in learned song. Previous work has established that such differences in song within a species depend on learning, but in principle some of these differences could also depend on genetic variation. We focused on song tempo, a learned and quantifiable feature that is controlled by central neural circuitry. To identify genetic contributions to tempo we computer-tutored juvenile Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica) from different genetic backgrounds with synthetic songs in which tempo was systematically varied. Computer-tutored birds exhibited unexpectedly strong heritability for song tempo and comparatively weak influence of experience. We then tested whether heritability was fixed and independent of experience by providing a second group of birds with enriched instruction via live social tutoring. Live tutoring resulted in not only a significant increase in the influence of experience on tempo but also a dramatic decrease in the influence of genetics, indicating that enriched instruction could overcome genetic biases evident under computer tutoring. Our results reveal strong heritable genetic contributions to interindividual variation in song tempo but that the degree of heritability depends profoundly on the quality of instruction. They suggest that for more complex learned phenotypes, where it can be difficult to identify and control relevant experiential variables, heritability may similarly be contingent on the specifics of experience.

中文翻译：

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遗传变异与经验相互作用，以确定所学歌曲的个体差异


学习反映了经验对遗传决定的电路的影响，但人们对经验和遗传如何相互作用以确定复杂的学习表型知之甚少。在这里，我们利用鸣禽的声音学习来研究经验和遗传学如何影响所学歌曲的个体间差异。先前的研究已经证实，一个物种内歌曲的这种差异取决于学习，但原则上，其中一些差异也可能取决于遗传变异。我们专注于歌曲节奏，这是一种由中枢神经回路控制的可学习和可量化的特征。为了确定遗传对节奏的贡献，我们用计算机对来自不同遗传背景的幼年孟加拉雀（ Lonchura striata Domestica ）进行了节奏系统性变化的合成歌曲的训练。计算机训练的鸟类对鸣叫节奏表现出出乎意料的强大遗传力，而经验的影响相对较弱。然后，我们通过现场社会辅导向第二组鸟类提供丰富的指导，测试遗传性是否是固定的且独立于经验。现场辅导不仅导致经验对节奏的影响显着增加，而且遗传的影响也急剧减少，这表明丰富的教学可以克服计算机辅导下明显的遗传偏见。我们的研究结果揭示了可遗传的遗传因素对歌曲节奏的个体差异有很强的影响，但遗传程度在很大程度上取决于教学质量。他们认为，对于更复杂的习得表型，可能难以识别和控制相关的经验变量，遗传性可能同样取决于经验的具体情况。