“Which Side Are You On? Birds Need Tutoring to Find Out (PhysOrg)” plus 2 more

Which Side Are You On? Birds Need Tutoring to Find Out (PhysOrg)
American Civics honors Famiglia Pizzeria co-founder (New York Post)
February brings study skills workshops in Florham Park (Florham Park Eagle)

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Which Side Are You On? Birds Need Tutoring to Find Out (PhysOrg)

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 04:36 AM PST

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Which Side Are You On? Birds Need Tutoring to Find Out

February 18, 2010 Which Side Are You On? Birds Need Tutoring to Find Out

A zebra finch needs tutoring before it can vocalize or sing. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

(PhysOrg.com) -- Just like us, songbirds need tutoring to learn to vocalize and sing.

Rutgers researchers Mimi Phan and David Vicario study bird brains in order to understand how humans learn to talk. Songbirds are among the few types of animals that learn their vocalizations by imitating their caregivers in infancy, a process with significant parallels to human language development.

The current work demonstrates that songbirds need experience with tutoring, either from parents or surrogates, for their brains to develop a key functional property known as lateralization. In lateralization, there is a division of labor between the brain hemispheres for certain tasks.

Phan, a research associate and Vicario, a professor, both in the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences, recently published their findings in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Lateralization in the human brain has long been known: the left brain hemisphere controls speech production and decoding in most people. Previous studies in songbirds have shown that the control of singing is also lateralized. In their recent PNAS paper, the Rutgers researchers tested responses in the brain when the bird hears a song and found clear differences in the way the two hemispheres process this social communication signal. Most important, birds deprived of appropriate auditory input during development don't lateralize. This suggests that early experience with vocal sounds may impact the two hemispheres differently.

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Phan and Vicario proved this by manipulating the auditory environment of juvenile zebra finches of both sexes. They isolated the birds. Some birds were tutored with natural songs (produced only by male, not female zebra finches). Others heard no external sounds; the only vocalizations these young birds heard were their own. Finally, they raised some birds that were unable to vocalize. Some of these mute birds heard tutor songs, while others did not. When the birds were adult, microelectrodes were used to measure the electrical activity in each hemisphere, in all the groups of birds with different early experience.

Intact male birds, tutored or untutored, showed lateralization but mute, untutored birds raised in silence did not - indicating that the birds have to hear something in their early experience in order to lateralize. For intact female zebra finches, hearing their own non-song vocalizations wasn't enough, although mute, untutored females showed a more complex picture that will require further study.

These results in songbirds show lateralization is not completely hard-wired, but depends on the birds' early experience with complex species-typical vocalizations. If what appears true for zebra finches is true for humans, then infants deprived of appropriate auditory experience (due to hearing loss or isolation) may fail to develop normal lateralization, which, in turn, could lead to defects in speech processing or production.

More information: PNAS paper: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/5/2301.full?sid=92bebd3b-6d7c-4ac2-aa82-c1d56b78a237

Provided by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

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American Civics honors Famiglia Pizzeria co-founder (New York Post)

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 10:44 AM PST

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The American Civics Institute has paid tribute to a supporter who donates time and treasure to make sure the organization's free tutoring programs are a success.

Morris Park community leaders Sal Conforto and Al D'Angleo founded the organization last year and have expanded to four different tutoring locations. The program pairs high school students with children in grades three to six who need academic help.

One of American Civics' first supporters was Paul Kolaj, the co-founder, president and CEO of Famous Famiglia Pizzeria, a chain of 600 pizzerias with locations worldwide. Kolaj was honored for his generosity and presented with a plaque on Thursday, February 11. Conforto joined Morris Park business leader Mark Gjonaj of M.P. Realty Group at 970 Morris Park Avenue to thank Kolaj.

"Paul gave us a very generous donation when we first started the American Civics Institute," Conforto said. "He is proof that there is no better place than in American to achieve your dreams. I want the people in Morris Park to know what he has given to the community."

Kolaj lived in the Castle Hill Houses after he immigrated to America from Italy in 1970. He and his family fled Kosovo in 1969. Kolaj's father died tragically when he fell out of an apple tree on a farm in Italy and hit his head on a rock.

Kolaj and his siblings worked hard to save money; they escaped povery and public assistance, he said. Kolaj first found work in Italian restaurants, where he felt at home because Albanians and Italians share similar cultures. He and his siblings went on to found Famous Famigila in a 300 square foot storefront on the Upper West Side at W. 96 Street and Amsterdam Avenue in 1986.

"We took the Italian word for family because we value many of the things saw in Italian culture [while working in Italian-owned businesses]: teamwork, discipline and commitment. We have made these the core principles of our business."

Kolaj was happy to give back to the borough where he started and considers philanthropy a business priority, he said.

"We try to stay involved in the community," Kolaj said. "The proceeds from the first day sales at all the stores we open go to local children's charities. I think that we give back because of our upbringing. We do the right thing when no one else is watching."

Kolaj's next project is Valentino's, an Italian restaurant set to open soon in Central Park.

Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at 718 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com

procchio@cnglocal.com

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February brings study skills workshops in Florham Park (Florham Park Eagle)

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 07:14 AM PST

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