The Language Code
How Dianne Patterson Deciphers How Brains and Birds Master Speech
Bridging neuroscience, linguistics, and animal behavior to unlock the secrets of communication
The Scientist Who Connects Bird Brains and Human Language
What can a parrot possibly tell us about human language? For Dianne K. Patterson, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Arizona, the answer is: more than you might imagine. With a unique background spanning psychology, linguistics, and neuroimaging, Patterson has spent her career unraveling the mysteries of how communication systems are learned and processed—whether in the human brain or in the vocal tract of an African Grey parrot.
Neuroimaging
Advanced brain scanning to understand language processing
Comparative Studies
Analyzing vocal learning across species
Linguistics
Understanding the structure of communication
Her unconventional approach to studying language has led to surprising discoveries about what parrots can teach us about human speech and how our own brains adapt when learning new languages. By bridging seemingly disconnected fields, Patterson offers rare insights into one of humanity's most defining characteristics: our capacity for language.
Key Research Areas: From Bird Songs to Brain Scans
Dianne Patterson's research career spans two seemingly distinct yet fundamentally connected domains: the mechanics of vocal production in parrots and the neural basis of language learning in humans. This unusual combination allows her to approach language from multiple angles, asking questions that researchers trained in a single discipline might overlook.
Comparative Vocal Learning
How do parrots produce human speech sounds? What articulatory similarities exist across species?
- Acoustic analysis
- Video imaging
- MRI and dissection
Neuroimaging of Language Learning
How does the brain change when learning a new language? What neural networks support statistical learning?
- fMRI
- Independent component analysis
- Diffusion imaging
Breaking New Ground in Neuroimaging
In her human language research, Patterson has helped reveal how flexible and dynamic our brains remain when it comes to language learning. In a 2015 study, she and her colleagues demonstrated that even adult brains can show shifts in lateralization when exposed to unfamiliar languages 1 6 .
Using fMRI, they found that as participants learned to identify words in Norwegian, their brain activation became increasingly left-lateralized—the pattern typically associated with native language processing 6 . This challenged the notion that language lateralization is fixed in adulthood, suggesting instead that it adapts based on learning and experience.
Her work on statistical learning—how humans unconsciously extract patterns from language input—has identified key brain networks involved in this process 4 . Unlike artificial language learning studies, Patterson used stimuli drawn from natural languages (Russian), revealing that the inferior frontal gyrus acts as a crucial hub for morphological learning 4 6 .
Brain Lateralization
Language processing shifts in the brain during learning
Innovative Methodologies: Seeing Inside the Brain
Patterson has consistently developed and advocated for advanced methodological approaches in neuroimaging research. She recognized early that as brain imaging datasets grew more complex, researchers needed better tools to visualize and understand their data.
Dynamic Data Visualization
One of her significant contributions is the development of dynamic data visualization tools that allow researchers to explore brain imaging data in more interactive ways 4 .
She introduced the neuroimaging community to Weave—a visualization workbench originally designed for geographic data—and enhanced it with brain choropleths (region-based brain maps) 4 . This innovation allows researchers to create interactive visualizations where brain maps are dynamically linked to behavioral, genetic, and medical data, enabling deeper exploration of complex relationships in neuroimaging datasets 4 .
Weave Visualization Platform
Interactive visualization of brain imaging data
Her work on BIDS (Brain Imaging Data Structure) further demonstrates her commitment to improving neuroimaging methodology 4 . BIDS provides a standardized format for organizing and describing neuroimaging datasets, making research more reproducible and collaborative across laboratories worldwide.
How Parrots Talk: A Landmark Experiment in Comparative Vocal Learning
The Experimental Setup
Patterson's doctoral research on psittacine speech production culminated in a series of elegant experiments that revealed precisely how a Grey parrot named Alex could produce human-like vowels. Published in 1994 and 1996, these studies used multiple imaging techniques to correlate the parrot's vocal tract configuration with the acoustic properties of the sounds produced 6 .
The research team employed three complementary methods:
- Standard video recording to capture gross articulatory movements
- Infrared imaging to visualize parts of the vocal tract not visible to standard video
- X-ray radiography to observe internal structures like the tongue and trachea
African Grey parrots like Alex have remarkable vocal learning abilities.
Step-by-Step Methodology
Stimulus Presentation
Alex, the African Grey parrot, was prompted to produce target vowels multiple times to ensure consistent measurements.
Simultaneous Data Collection
For each production, the team collected synchronized audio and visual data using their multi-method imaging approach.
Acoustic Analysis
The research team measured formant frequencies—the acoustic resonances that determine vowel quality—from the recorded speech samples.
Articulatory Measurement
Patterson and her colleagues identified key articulatory correlates from the imaging data, including beak opening, tongue position, and laryngeal placement.
Cross-Species Comparison
The team compared both acoustic and articulatory data between the parrot and human speech, identifying both parallels and differences in their production mechanisms.
Results and Analysis
The findings revealed a fascinating mix of similarities and differences between human and parrot speech production. The parrot's /i/ and /a/ vowels showed formant patterns that were recognizably similar to human productions, explaining why human listeners could readily identify these vowels 6 .
Acoustic Comparison of Vowels
| Vowel Sound | Human Recognizability |
|---|---|
| /i/ ("eat") | High (easily identified by human listeners) |
| /a/ ("rock") | High (easily identified by human listeners) |
Articulatory Features Comparison
| Articulatory Feature | Human vs. Parrot |
|---|---|
| Tongue Role | Primary articulator vs. Modified vocal tract shape |
| Beak/Oral Opening | Minor spectral influence vs. Major resonance modifier |
| Laryngeal Placement | Relatively stable vs. Strategically positioned |
Perhaps most remarkably, the research demonstrated that parrots use their vocal tracts in some, but not all, of the ways humans do to produce speech sounds 6 . This suggested that different species might arrive at similar acoustic outcomes through different articulatory means—a concept that challenges simplistic comparisons across species.
The Scientist's Toolkit: Key Research Reagent Solutions
Modern neuroimaging research relies on specialized tools and resources that enable precise data collection and analysis. While Patterson's work doesn't use chemical reagents in the traditional sense, her research employs crucial methodological "reagents"—standardized tools and approaches that ensure reproducible, reliable science.
BIDS Validator
Checks neuroimaging datasets for format compliance
Application: Ensuring data standardization and reproducibility 4
Weave Visualization
Dynamic data visualization workbench
Application: Exploring brain imaging data with linked representations 4
Unix Command-Line Tools
Computational processing and analysis
Application: Handling neuroimaging data pipelines 1
Containerization
Software environment standardization
Application: Reproducible computational environments 1
These methodological "reagents" play a role analogous to chemical reagents in wet-lab sciences: they enable standardized, replicable procedures that yield reliable results. Patterson has specifically taught courses on these computational tools, recognizing their importance in modern neuroimaging research 1 .
Her commitment to open science and standardized methods extends to her work on BIDS (Brain Imaging Data Structure), which functions as a kind of "protocol reagent" for the entire neuroimaging community 4 . Just as standardized solutions enable consistent experiments across chemistry labs, BIDS enables consistent data organization across neuroimaging labs.
Conclusion: A Legacy of Cross-Disciplinary Discovery
Dianne Patterson's career exemplifies the power of crossing disciplinary boundaries to ask questions that more specialized researchers might miss. Her work reveals that the capacity for complex vocal learning—once thought uniquely human—exists in other species, and that our own brains maintain a remarkable flexibility for language learning throughout life.
From detailing the precise articulatory maneuvers of a parrot's vocal tract to mapping the dynamic neural networks of humans learning new languages, Patterson's research continues to illuminate the multiple facets of vocal communication. Her work reminds us that some of science's most fascinating discoveries await at the intersection of seemingly unrelated fields—and that sometimes, to understand what makes human language special, we need to listen carefully to what other species have to say.
"Her unique perspective continues to offer valuable insights into that most human of questions: how we learn, produce, and comprehend the sounds that connect us to one another."
As her current research continues to explore language processing in both healthy and clinical populations—including recent work on primary progressive aphasia and stroke recovery 6 —Patterson maintains the same spirit of interdisciplinary inquiry that has characterized her career from the beginning.
Key Contributions
- Cross-species vocal learning mechanisms
- Brain plasticity in language acquisition
- Advanced neuroimaging methodologies
- Standardized data protocols (BIDS)