Taking turns: bridging the gap between human and animal communication

Abstract

Language, humans’ most distinctive trait, still remains a ‘mystery’ for evolutionary theory. It is underpinned by a universal infrastructure—cooperative turn-taking—which has been suggested as an ancient mechanism bridging the existing gap between the articulate human species and their inarticulate primate cousins. However, we know remarkably little about turn-taking systems of non-human animals, and methodological confounds have often prevented meaningful cross-species comparisons. Thus, the extent to which cooperative turn-taking is uniquely human or represents a homologous and/or analogous trait is currently unknown. The present paper draws attention to this promising research avenue by providing an overview of the state of the art of turn-taking in four animal taxa—birds, mammals, insects and anurans. It concludes with a new comparative framework to spur more research into this research domain and to test which elements of the human turn-taking system are shared across species and taxa.

Compatibility of Cats With Children in the Family

“…As noted by these authors in their studies of parent-child relationships, this reciprocal interaction is a characteristic of attachment (18, 19), and the same may be true in child-pet relationships. Turn-taking of this sort forms a basis for communication, one in which conversational interchange becomes possible (20). Recent studies of human-cat relationships have emphasized that both the cat and the human affect and contribute to the relationship and bond involved (21, 22).…”

Interactive rhythms across species: the evolutionary biology of animal chorusing and turn‐taking

“…Turn‐taking can be defined as “the orderly exchange of purely communicative signals or behaviors (e.g. peek‐a‐boo games in humans) between individuals characterized by principles for the coordination of turn transfer, which result in observable temporal regularities” (see also Tables and ). Animal chorusing can be defined as “Acoustic signalling produced collectively by a group of individuals whose activity is clustered in both space and time; choruses may be temporally structured in alternating or synchronous formats” (see also Table ).…”

“…In fact, noncooperative coordination and competition often drive animal interactive displays . We illustrate these points by discussing and building upon some recent experiments and reviews of turn‐taking in nonhuman animals . Our intention, we stress, is not to criticize a related field or a particular paper.…”

“…Unanswered questions regarding how individual communicative rhythms are shaped by group interactions and modulated by social behavior are starting to be addressed . The study of conversation and turn‐taking is taking center stage …”

“…As shown in Figure , this term is increasingly employed in the literature and may soon overtake chorusing by number of publications. Among other aspects, research on turn‐taking investigates the rhythm and timing of human and, more recently, animal rhythmic interactions . Across species, definitions of, and assumptions underlying, turn‐taking strongly vary from simple call−response behavior to complex communicative patterns assuming “higher” cognition (Table ).…”