Science behind „Polly Want a Cracker“ Could Guide Future Treatment Design for Speech Disorders

By recording for the first time the brain activity of parakeets as they made sounds, a research team at NYU Grossman School of Medicine found that their brains generate patterns seen before only in humans as they speak.

Published online March 19 in the journal Nature, the study mapped the activity of a group of nerve cells in the bird’s brain called the central nucleus of the anterior arcopallium (AAC), which is known to strongly influence the muscles in its vocal organ. Different groups of AAC cells were found to produce sounds akin to consonants and vowels.

When parakeets sing, certain cells become active at specific pitches, like pressing the keys on a piano, with the newfound pattern resembling the organization behind human speech. Based on their findings, the researchers suggest that humans and parakeets – unlike any other animal studied so far – share a similar connection between higher brain activity and sound production.

„An important way to develop new treatments for speech disorders is to find animal models that can offer new insights into speech-related brain processes,“ said senior study author Michael Long, PhD, the Thomas and Suzanne Murphy Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, and faculty in the Institute for Translational Neuroscience, at NYU Langone Health. „The brain processes uncovered in parakeets may help to explain the mechanisms behind communication disorders affecting millions of Americans.“ These include apraxia (trouble planning speech movements) and aphasia (difficulty producing language), which can result from trauma caused by a stroke.