Volition and learning in primate vocal behaviour

Ghazanfar, Asif A.; Liao, Diana A.; Takahashi, Daniel Yasumasa

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.01.021

Cited by 38 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…However, it too relies on production of novel calls through imitation, subserved by forebrain control of phonatory muscles, to determine the distribution of vocal learning abilities across species. Such an approach is therefore not representative of the diversity of vocal learning behavior across the animal kingdom [23,24]. This diversity pertains not only to species for which there is recent evidence of vocal learning but also to the "well-established" vocal learning species, namely birds [25].…”

Section: The Vocal Learning Continuum and Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are two ways in which this bidimensionality is problematic. The first is that it leaves out capacities and constraints at other levels of analysis [18,24,28], which might or might not go hand in hand with this brain circuit. This is well captured by the following questions, taken from [28]: (1) What makes a species a vocal learner?…”

Section: Bidimensionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vocal learning: Beyond the continuum

Martins¹,

Boeckx²

2020

PLoS Biol

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Vocal learning is the ability to modify vocal output on the basis of experience. Traditionally, species have been classified as either displaying or lacking this ability. A recent proposal, the vocal learning continuum, recognizes the need to have a more nuanced view of this phenotype and abandon the yes-no dichotomy. However, it also limits vocal learning to production of novel calls through imitation, moreover subserved by a forebrain-to-phonatorymuscles circuit. We discuss its limitations regarding the characterization of vocal learning across species and argue for a more permissive view.

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Section: The Vocal Learning Continuum and Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bidimensionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocal learning: Beyond the continuum

Martins¹,

Boeckx²

2020

PLoS Biol

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“…Findings regarding gestural communication in great apes, including inter-species comparisons, evoke a similar general interpretation. [94][95][96] Altogether, the burgeoning strand of great ape vocal research [28,91,97] shows that traditional ideas about what great apes can and (mostly) cannot do are outdated, too crude or unsubstantiated. The precursor system for (spoken) language evolution will be best understood when zooming out our theoretical and empirical lenses to include the vocal (and gestural) behavior of all great ape genera, including its neural and molecular substrates.…”

Section: Living Links Between Great Ape Vocal Skills and Human Verbalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Language Evolution: Beyond Pan‐Centrism

Lameira

Call

2020

BioEssays

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Language does not fossilize but this does not mean that the language's evolutionary timeline is lost forever. Great apes provide a window back in time on our last prelinguistic ancestor's communication and cognition. Phylogeny and cladistics implicitly conjure Pan (chimpanzees, bonobos) as a superior (often the only) model for language evolution compared with earlier diverging lineages, Gorilla and Pongo (orangutans). Here, in reviewing the literature, it is shown that Pan do not surpass other great apes along genetic, cognitive, ecologic, or vocal traits that are putatively paramount for language onset and evolution. Instead, revived herein is the idea that only by abandoning single‐species models and learning about the variation among great apes, there might be a chance to retrieve lost fragments of the evolutionary timeline of language.

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“…No subspecies have been recognized on morphological and genetic grounds (Cortés‐Ortiz, Rylands, & Mittermeier, ), although population genetic studies show the existence of geographic structuring in clusters based on nuclear genetic diversity (Oklander, Miño, Fernández, Caputo, & Corach, ). Vocalizations in howlers are thought to be genetically determined, and to this day, there is no definitive evidence of vocal learning in non‐human primates (reviewed in Egnor & Hauser, ; but see Ghazanfar, Liao, & Takahashi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced geographic variation in roars in different habitats rejects the acoustic adaptation hypothesis in the black‐and‐gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya)

Holzmann

Areta

2019

Ethology

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Vocalizations used for long‐range communication must disperse without significant structural changes to be decoded by receivers. The acoustic adaptation hypothesis (AAH) holds that, since acoustic signals are influenced by the habitat in which they disperse, sounds will possess specific structural characteristics to diminish sound degradation. Additionally, vocalizations can also be influenced by genetics, anatomy, and/or cultural aspects. Here, we tested the AAH through quantitative comparisons of roars in four allopatric populations of the black‐and‐gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) across an environmental gradient from open to closed, in northeastern Argentina. At each site, we obtained good‐quality recordings from three adult males, also between July and November 2013, conducted vegetation surveys (measuring tree density, canopy closure, and vertical structure), evaluated potential masking of roars by gathering environmental sound samples, and assessed sound attenuation of a synthetic tone at three different distances: 10 m (landmark reference distance), 50, and 100 m. We also tested the alternative hypothesis that acoustic properties of roars could be explained by population genetic divergence. Our results did not support the AAH. Although our four study sites were significantly different in vegetation structure, conforming to an open‐to‐closed gradient, roars of A. caraya were not different among populations. Likewise, although environmental sound differed between sites, we found no evidence of environmental sound affecting the acoustic properties of roars. The attenuation of the synthetic tone was only near significant at 100 m distance between both extreme sites from the environmental gradient. The four A. caraya study populations grouped into three genetically differentiated clusters. Since roar features were independent from population genetic clustering, we reject the genetic hypothesis too. The combination of high amplitude and low peak frequency of roars, coupled to small home range size and extensive overlap between neighboring groups, allows roars to keep their communication value across habitats without need of specific environmental tuning.

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Volition and learning in primate vocal behaviour

Cited by 38 publications

References 103 publications

Vocal learning: Beyond the continuum

Vocal learning: Beyond the continuum

Understanding Language Evolution: Beyond Pan‐Centrism

Reduced geographic variation in roars in different habitats rejects the acoustic adaptation hypothesis in the black‐and‐gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya)

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