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A has identified the neural network involved in melodic improvisation during a finch’s practice session. They also discovered why improvisations diminish when performing in front of a female. The answer is stress.

Because of its social complexity, the ritual of practice and performance feels uniquely human. After all, there’s no other animal that sings in the shower for a fictional audience. But when singing to impress, a bird species known as zebra finches are no amateurs. Male zebra finches frequently practice their songs to attract females. During those practice sessions, different melodies are attempted, with notes changing regularly. When a female is introduced however, practice turns into a performance, and the notes become much more predictable. This difference has given a team of US scientists the opportunity to research underlying neurological differences between practice and performance.

Humans and zebra finches differ in many ways, but both have specific brain structures for learning and voluntary motor control. Collectively, these structures are referred to as the basal ganglia. Since the basal ganglia is involved in practice and performance, it is the focus of this research.

When scientists investigated the basal ganglia during practice sessions, they observed that certain brain signals matched specific song variations. During performances however, those brain signals reduced significantly, along with improvisations. In fact, even when the signals were artificially suppressed during a practice session, improvisations reduced as they would during performances. Hence, they’d managed to find underlying neurological patterns to each variation in remarkable detail and could even neurologically distinguish between practice and performance.

These observations provide quite an accurate map of an underlying neural network necessary for improvisation. In fact, it even shows how that network is directly suppressed by noradrenalin during performances.

Having observed these differences, the team investigated how the brain knows when it’s practicing and when it’s performing. The answer comes down to stress. In a stressful situation, the body releases a neurotransmitter called noradrenaline. As expected, the increase in noradrenaline directly decreases specific brain signals associated with improvisations. The main difference between practice and performance is therefore determined by the finch’s level of stress.

These observations provide quite an accurate map of an underlying neural network necessary for improvisation. In fact, it even shows how that network is directly suppressed by noradrenalin during performances.

So, the next time you’re singing in the shower, and you feel like improvising, thank your basal ganglia and, more importantly, thank your lack of audience.