1
|
Bortolato T, Friederici AD, Girard-Buttoz C, Wittig RM, Crockford C. Chimpanzees show the capacity to communicate about concomitant daily life events. iScience 2023; 26:108090. [PMID: 37876805 PMCID: PMC10590744 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023] Open
Abstract
One universal feature of human language is its versatility in communicating about juxtapositions of everyday events. Versatile combinatorial systems of communication can be selected for if (a) several vocal units are flexibly combined into numerous and long vocal sequences and (b) vocal sequences relate to numerous daily life events. We propose (b) is more likely during simultaneous or serial (concomitant) events than single events. We analyzed 9,391 vocal utterances across the repertoire of wild chimpanzees and their events of production. Chimpanzees used vocal sequences across a range of daily life events and twice as often during concomitant than single events. Also, utterance diversity correlated positively with event diversity. Our results show the potential of chimpanzee vocal sequences to convey combined information about numerous daily life events, a step from which generalized combinatoriality could have evolved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tatiana Bortolato
- The Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5229, Bron 69500, France
- Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan 1303, Ivory Coast
| | - Angela D. Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cédric Girard-Buttoz
- The Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5229, Bron 69500, France
- Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan 1303, Ivory Coast
| | - Roman M. Wittig
- The Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5229, Bron 69500, France
- Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan 1303, Ivory Coast
| | - Catherine Crockford
- The Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5229, Bron 69500, France
- Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan 1303, Ivory Coast
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
León J, Thiriau C, Crockford C, Zuberbühler K. Comprehension of own and other species' alarm calls in sooty mangabey vocal development. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2023; 77:56. [PMID: 37234238 PMCID: PMC10205891 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-023-03318-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 03/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Abstract Primates understand the meaning of their own and other species' alarm calls, but little is known about how they acquire such knowledge. Here, we combined direct behavioural observations with playback experiments to investigate two key processes underlying vocal development: comprehension and usage. Especifically, we studied the development of con- and heterospecific alarm call recognition in free-ranging sooty mangabeys, Cercocebus atys, across three age groups: young juveniles (1-2y), old juveniles (3-4y) and adults (> 5y). We observed that, during natural predator encounters, juveniles alarm called to a significantly wider range of species than adults, with evidence of refinement during the first four years of life. In the experiments, we exposed subjects to leopard, eagle and snake alarm calls given by other group members or sympatric Diana monkeys. We found that young juveniles' locomotor and vocal responses were least appropriate and that they engaged in more social referencing (look at adults when hearing an alarm call) than older individuals, suggesting that vocal competence is obtained via social learning. In conclusion, our results suggest that alarm call comprehension is socially learned during the juvenile stage, with comprehension preceding appropriate usage but no difference between learning their own or other species' alarm calls. Significance statement Under natural conditions, animals do not just interact with members of their own species, but usually operate in a network of associated species. However, ontogenetic research on primate communication frequently ignores this significant element. We studied the development of con- and heterospecific alarm call recognition in wild sooty mangabeys. We found that communicative competence was acquired during the juvenile stages, with alarm call comprehension learning preceding appropriate vocal usage and with no clear difference in learning of con- and heterospecific signals. We also found that, during early stages of life, social referencing, a proactive form of social learning, was key in the acquisition of competent alarm call behaviour. Our results show that primates equally learn to interpret alarm calls from their own and other species during their early stages of life and that this learning process is refined as the animals mature. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-023-03318-6.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julián León
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Taï Monkey Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, 01 BP1303 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
| | - Constance Thiriau
- Taï Monkey Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, 01 BP1303 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Tai Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, 01 BP1303 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 69330 Lyon, France
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Taï Monkey Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, 01 BP1303 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, Saint Andrews, KY16 9JP Scotland UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Abreu F, Pika S. Turn-taking skills in mammals: A systematic review into development and acquisition. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.987253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
How human language evolved remains one of the most intriguing questions in science, and different approaches have been used to tackle this question. A recent hypothesis, the Interaction Engine Hypothesis, postulates that language was made possible through the special capacity for social interaction involving different social cognitive skills (e.g., joint attention, common ground) and specific characteristics such as face-to-face interaction, mutual gaze and turn-taking, the exchange of rapid communicative turns. Recently, it has been argued that this turn-taking infrastructure may be a foundational and ancient mechanism of the layered system of language because communicative turn-taking has been found in human infants and across several non-human primate species. Moreover, there is some evidence for turn-taking in different mammalian taxa, especially those capable of vocal learning. Surprisingly, however, the existing studies have mainly focused on turn-taking production of adult individuals, while little is known about its emergence and development in young individuals. Hence, the aim of the current paper was 2-fold: First, we carried out a systematic review of turn-taking development and acquisition in mammals to evaluate possible research bias and existing gaps. Second, we highlight research avenues to spur more research into this domain and investigate if distinct turn-taking elements can be found in other non-human animal species. Since mammals exhibit an extended development period, including learning and strong parental care, they represent an excellent model group in which to investigate the acquisition and development of turn-taking abilities. We performed a systematic review including a wide range of terms and found 21 studies presenting findings on turn-taking abilities in infants and juveniles. Most of these studies were from the last decade, showing an increased interest in this field over the years. Overall, we found a considerable variation in the terminologies and methodological approaches used. In addition, studies investigating turn-taking abilities across different development periods and in relation to different social partners were very rare, thereby hampering direct, systematic comparisons within and across species. Nonetheless, the results of some studies suggested that specific turn-taking elements are innate, while others are acquired during development (e.g., flexibility). Finally, we pinpoint fruitful research avenues and hypotheses to move the field of turn-taking development forward and improve our understanding of the impact of turn-taking on language evolution.
Collapse
|
4
|
The Ontogeny of Vocal Sequences: Insights from a Newborn Wild Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00321-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
AbstractObservations of early vocal behaviours in non-human primates (hereafter primates) are important for direct comparisons between human and primate vocal development. However, direct observations of births and perinatal behaviour in wild primates are rare, and the initial stages of behavioural ontogeny usually remain undocumented. Here, we report direct observations of the birth of a wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Budongo Forest, Uganda, including the behaviour of the mother and other group members. We monitored the newborn’s vocal behaviour for approximately 2 hours and recorded 70 calls. We categorised the vocalisations both qualitatively, using conventional call descriptions, and quantitatively, using cluster and discriminant acoustic analyses. We found evidence for acoustically distinct vocal units, produced both in isolation and in combination, including sequences akin to adult pant hoots, a vocal utterance regarded as the most complex vocal signal produced by this species. We concluded that chimpanzees possess the capacity to produce vocal sequences composed of different call types from birth, albeit in rudimentary forms. Our observations are in line with the idea that primate vocal repertoires are largely present from birth, with fine acoustic structures undergoing ontogenetic processes. Our study provides rare and valuable empirical data on perinatal behaviours in wild primates.
Collapse
|
5
|
Deshpande A, Van Boekholt B, Zuberbuhler K. Preliminary evidence for one-trial social learning of vervet monkey alarm calling. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210560. [PMID: 36016915 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6133928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
How do non-human primates learn to use their alarm calls? Social learning is a promising candidate, but its role in the acquisition of meaning and call usage has not been studied systematically, neither during ontogeny nor in adulthood. To investigate the role of social learning in alarm call comprehension and use, we exposed groups of wild vervet monkeys to two unfamiliar animal models in the presence or absence of conspecific alarm calls. To assess the learning outcome of these experiences, we then presented the models for a second time to the same monkeys, but now without additional alarm call information. In subjects previously exposed in conjunction with alarm calls, we found heightened predator inspection compared to control subjects exposed without alarm calls, indicating one-trial social learning of 'meaning'. Moreover, some juveniles (but not adults) produced the same alarm calls they heard during the initial exposure whereas the authenticity of the models had an additional effect. Our experiment provides preliminary evidence that, in non-human primates, call meaning can be acquired by one-trail social learning but that subject age and core knowledge about predators additionally moderate the acquisition of novel call-referent associations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adwait Deshpande
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
| | - Bas Van Boekholt
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Comparative BioCognition, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Klaus Zuberbuhler
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Deshpande A, Van Boekholt B, Zuberbuhler K. Preliminary evidence for one-trial social learning of vervet monkey alarm calling. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210560. [PMID: 36016915 PMCID: PMC9399712 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
How do non-human primates learn to use their alarm calls? Social learning is a promising candidate, but its role in the acquisition of meaning and call usage has not been studied systematically, neither during ontogeny nor in adulthood. To investigate the role of social learning in alarm call comprehension and use, we exposed groups of wild vervet monkeys to two unfamiliar animal models in the presence or absence of conspecific alarm calls. To assess the learning outcome of these experiences, we then presented the models for a second time to the same monkeys, but now without additional alarm call information. In subjects previously exposed in conjunction with alarm calls, we found heightened predator inspection compared to control subjects exposed without alarm calls, indicating one-trial social learning of 'meaning'. Moreover, some juveniles (but not adults) produced the same alarm calls they heard during the initial exposure whereas the authenticity of the models had an additional effect. Our experiment provides preliminary evidence that, in non-human primates, call meaning can be acquired by one-trail social learning but that subject age and core knowledge about predators additionally moderate the acquisition of novel call-referent associations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adwait Deshpande
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
| | - Bas Van Boekholt
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Comparative BioCognition, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Klaus Zuberbuhler
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Acquisition of predator knowledge from alarm calls via one-trial social learning in monkeys. iScience 2022; 25:104853. [PMID: 36034220 PMCID: PMC9400077 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
|
8
|
Astor K, Thiele M, Gredebäck G. Gaze following emergence relies on both perceptual cues and social awareness. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
|
9
|
Dezecache G, Zuberbühler K, Davila-Ross M, Dahl CD. A machine learning approach to infant distress calls and maternal behaviour of wild chimpanzees. Anim Cogn 2020; 24:443-455. [PMID: 33094407 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01437-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Revised: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 09/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Distress calls are an acoustically variable group of vocalizations ubiquitous in mammals and other animals. Their presumed function is to recruit help, but there has been much debate on whether the nature of the disturbance can be inferred from the acoustics of distress calls. We used machine learning to analyse episodes of distress calls of wild infant chimpanzees. We extracted exemplars from those distress call episodes and examined them in relation to the external event triggering them and the distance to the mother. In further steps, we tested whether the acoustic variants were associated with particular maternal responses. Our results suggest that, although infant chimpanzee distress calls are highly graded, they can convey information about discrete problems experienced by the infant and about distance to the mother, which in turn may help guide maternal parenting decisions. The extent to which mothers rely on acoustic cues alone (versus integrate other contextual-visual information) to decide upon intervening should be the focus of future research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Dezecache
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. .,Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda. .,Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, England, UK. .,Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.,Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda.,School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | - Marina Davila-Ross
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, England, UK
| | - Christoph D Dahl
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. .,Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. .,Brain and Consciousness Research Center, Taipei Medical University, Shuang-Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Zaidel DW. Coevolution of language and symbolic meaning: Co-opting meaning underlying the initial arts in early human culture. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2019; 11:e1520. [PMID: 31502423 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Revised: 07/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Many of language's components, including communicating symbolic meaning, have neurobiological roots that go back millions of years in evolutionary time. The intersection with the human social survival strategy spawned additional adaptive meaning systems. Under conditions threatening survival in socially oriented human groups, extra-language meaning systems co-opted and adapted to facilitate unity, including the early formats of the arts. They would have percolated into cultural practice for this social purpose and ultimately survival. With evolutionary pressures tapping into biologically inherited, physiologically functioning sensory-motor pathways, anchored specifically in rhythm cognition and motor synchrony output, initial art practice conveyed symbolic group cohesion through communal, all-inclusive synchronously moving dance formations and rhythmically produced vocal or percussion sounds. As with the sounds of language in the deep past, and numerous other cultural behaviors, such nonmaterial early art formats would not have left marks in the archeological record but their evolutionary driven practice would have contributed to adaptive genetic factors woven into brain-behavior evolution. Their practice is likely to have well predated unearthed art-related objects. Consolidation of evidence and notions from language evolution, genetics, human physiology, comparative animal communication, archeology, and climate history in the distant past of early humans in Africa supports the evolutionary driven practice of initial nonmaterial art formats conveying symbolic expressions optimizing group survival. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Linguistics > Evolution of Language Psychology > Comparative Psychology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dahlia W Zaidel
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
|