Scientists have worked out that a bird's song can be changed by zapping its brain with pulses of light.
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The team at the University of Texas Southwestern studied male zebra finches, an Australian species who are 'loud and boisterous' singers. They believe that their experiments could ultimately help humans who have speech difficulties caused by conditions such as autism.
The research determined that artificial memories of singing lessons can be implanted into their brains to teach them without the father's input.
Todd Roberts, a neuroscientist at the university's O'Donnell Brain Institute, said: ''This is the first time we have confirmed brain regions that encode behavioural-goal memories - those memories that guide us when we want to imitate anything from speech to learning the piano.''