The Discrimination of Articulate Sounds by Cats

Shepherd, William T.

doi:10.2307/1413431

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Appropriate responding despite intensity and frequency transformations imposed by the same or different speakers was reported more than 70 years ago (Shepherd, 1911(Shepherd, , 1912, which suggests that the animals were responding to acoustic patterns in the speech sounds (common names, usually) rather than to limited local features. However, without a more detailed analysis of the controlling features of the acoustic signals, the latter possibility cannot be ruled out.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Processing of complex auditory stimuli (tunes) by rats and monkeys (Cebus apella)

D’Amato

Salmon

1984

Animal Learning & Behavior

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The degree to which rats and monkeys base their discriminations of complex auditory stimuli ("tunes") on frequency contours rather than on local features was investigated. In Experiment I, groups of rats and monkeys trained with tunes as S+ and 8-acquired a simple operant diacrim· ination no faster than groups that received the same notes of each tune but in a new random order on each trial; neither did the groups differ on two transfer tests devised to detect learning of frequency contour in the tune-trained animals. Acquisition in the tune-trained and randomnotes groups seemed to be based on the overall frequency difference between S+ and 8-, which was about 1.5 octaves. In Experiment 2, S+ and 8-were similar to each other with regard to overall frequency and individual notes, the most salient differentiating characteristic of the tunes being their tonal pattern. The tune-trained groups were clearly superior to the randomnotes animals in acquisition, and an initial transfer test suggested that the former might have learned the discrimination on the basis of frequency contour. However, the detailed transfer tests of Experiment 3 strongly suggested that the tune-trained rats and monkeys based their discriminations primarily on local cues rather than on frequency contour. Based on the results of Experiment 4, the data of an earlier study that suggested frequency contour learning in monkeys and rats were reinterpreted in terms of control by local cues.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Processing of complex auditory stimuli (tunes) by rats and monkeys (Cebus apella)

D’Amato

Salmon

1984

Animal Learning & Behavior

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“…On the other side of the ledger as noted by Miller (1977), many animals, from raccoons to elephants, seem capable of learning responses to spoken commands, and experimental evidence of such discriminative ability dates back at least 80 years. Appropriate responding in the face of intensity and frequency transformations imposed by the same or different speakers has been reported (Shepherd, 1911(Shepherd, , 1912, which gives the impression that the animals were responding to acoustical patterns in the speech sounds (mainly common names) rather than to limited local features. However, without a more detailed analysis of the controlling features of the acoustic signals, one cannot exclude the latter possibility.…”

Section: Processing Of Structured Auditory Stimuli (Tunes)mentioning

confidence: 93%

Processing and retention of complex auditory stimuli in monkeys (Cebus apella).

D’Amato¹,

Salmon²

1984

Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologi

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Monkeys were trained to discriminate between "tunes" which differed primarily in their temporal structure, their frequency envelopes. The conclusion drawn from a variety of transfer tests was that they learned the discrimination on the basis of local features of the tunes rather than on their temporal patterns. Subsequent comparisons of retention based on auditory-visual and visual-visual matching tasks suggested that this deficiency was not due to a truncated auditory short-term store. Indeed, when previous experience with remembering visual and auditory stimuli was comparable, short-term memory also seemed comparable in the two modalities. It was noted that the ability to discriminate and employ the frequency contours of tonal patterns may be related to the capacity for acoustically based language, and that, in the human infant, these skills seem to develop in parallel.RESUME Des singes furent entraines a discriminer entre des "airs" qui different principalement dans leur structure temporelle, leur enveloppe de frequence. Les conclusions tirees d'une serie de tests de transfert furent qu'ils apprirent la discrimination sur la base de caracteristiques particulieres des airs plutot que sur leur pattern temporel. Des comparaisons subsequentes de retention a partir de taches d'appariages auditif-visuel et visuel-visuel indiquerent que cette deficience n'etait pas due a un entreposage auditif a court terme tronque. En fait, lorsque l'experience anterieure avec la mise en memoire de stimuli visuels et auditifs etait comparable, la memoire a court terme semblait elle aussi comparable dans les deux modalites. II fut mentionne que la capacite de discriminer et d'utiliser l'enveloppe de frequence de patterns tonaux peut etre reliee a la capacite de developper un langage base acoustiquement et que, chez l'enfant humain, ces capacites semblent se developper parallelement.

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“…Research in bioacoustics has been carried out since the early 1900s (e.g. Yerkes, ; Shepard, , ; Lashley, ; Greene, ; Bierens de Haan, ; Myers, ; Burkenroad, ) and has focused on attempts to determine the purpose and methods of communication principally in mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects. This research initially grew out of the fields of psychology and animal behaviour.…”

Section: Bioacoustics and Soundscape Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The silence of biogeography

Lomolino¹,

Pijanowski

Gasc

2015

Journal of Biogeography

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Modern biogeography now encompasses an impressive diversity of patterns and phenomena of the geography of nature, providing insights fundamental to understanding the forces influencing the spatial and temporal dynamics of biological diversity. However, rather than praise our discipline for its great breadth of visions, our purpose here is to point out our glaring oversight of a potentially transformative frontier in the geography of nature. A new, emerging area called soundscape ecology, if guided by the principles of biogeography, holds the promise of ‘opening the ears’ of our field and providing fresh perspectives on fundamental problems being addressed by biogeographers.

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The Discrimination of Articulate Sounds by Cats

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Processing of complex auditory stimuli (tunes) by rats and monkeys (Cebus apella)

Processing of complex auditory stimuli (tunes) by rats and monkeys (Cebus apella)

Processing and retention of complex auditory stimuli in monkeys (Cebus apella).

The silence of biogeography

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