Clock chimes

Meanwhile, in a separate study in the same journal, scientists used zebra finches to identify the "clock" that controls the timing of complex vocal behaviour in songbirds.

Both birdsong and human speech require precisely timed execution. But the specific brain circuits involved in the timing were unknown.

Researchers Michael Long and Michale Fee attempted to identify these "clocks" by cooling down the cells in different areas of the finches' brain.

Cooling the temperature in a region known as the high vocal centre (HVC) slowed the finches' songs down by up to 45%.

But the cooling did not affect the sequence of notes sung. This suggests the "clock" that regulates the timing of birdsong lies in the HVC.

Writing in the journal Nature, the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests that its technique could help identify the "clocks" for other complex behaviours.