Songbirds as a Model for Auditory Hallucinations

Auditory hallucinations, especially the perception of voices in the absence of external stimuli, are a hallmark of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. Modeling these complex phenomena in animals is challenging, as traditional rodent models rely on indirect behavioral proxies and simple stimuli. Here, I propose that songbirds, with their sophisticated vocal communication and well-mapped neural circuitry for auditory processing, offer a novel model for studying auditory hallucinations. We hypothesize that songbirds can experience hallucination-like perceptions of vocalizations under specific conditions, driven by neural mechanisms of predictive coding and neuromodulation analogous to those in mammals. In this article, we outline supporting evidence for this hypothesis, drawing comparisons between songbirds and traditional mammalian models. We discuss how pharmacological manipulations – extensively used in rodent models – could be applied or adapted to songbirds to induce and investigate hallucination-like events. We then propose a methodological framework to test these ideas, including behavioral paradigms (e.g., detecting illusory calls embedded in noise). Discussion of this framework highlights the strengths of songbirds (rich vocal behaviors, accessible neural circuits) and addresses potential limitations (evolutionary distance and differing brain anatomy). By emphasizing predictive coding and circuit-level mechanisms, we argue that songbirds can fill an essential gap in auditory hallucination research, offering a complementary model alongside rodents and primates. This hypothesis, if validated, would broaden our understanding of hallucinations and open new experimental avenues for probing the neural basis of psychosis.