Ofer Tchernichovski, Biology
Associate Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Animal Behavior at City University of New York’s City College
ofer@ccny.cuny.edu
Ofer Tchenichovski’s work involves mapping the mechanisms of song learning by studying the behavior and dynamics of the sound production of songbirds.
Like early speech development in the human infant, the songbird learns to imitate complex sounds during a critical period of development. The adult bird cannot imitate any more – we do not know why. His lab studies the animal behavior and dynamics of vocal learning and sound production across different brain levels. The lab aims to uncover the specific physiological and molecular (gene expression) brain processes that underlie song learning.