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Sharma P, Gero S, Payne R, Gruber DF, Rus D, Torralba A, Andreas J. Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3617. [PMID: 38714699 PMCID: PMC11076547 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47221-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are highly social mammals that communicate using sequences of clicks called codas. While a subset of codas have been shown to encode information about caller identity, almost everything else about the sperm whale communication system, including its structure and information-carrying capacity, remains unknown. We show that codas exhibit contextual and combinatorial structure. First, we report previously undescribed features of codas that are sensitive to the conversational context in which they occur, and systematically controlled and imitated across whales. We call these rubato and ornamentation. Second, we show that codas form a combinatorial coding system in which rubato and ornamentation combine with two context-independent features we call rhythm and tempo to produce a large inventory of distinguishable codas. Sperm whale vocalisations are more expressive and structured than previously believed, and built from a repertoire comprising nearly an order of magnitude more distinguishable codas. These results show context-sensitive and combinatorial vocalisation can appear in organisms with divergent evolutionary lineage and vocal apparatus.
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Grants
- This analysis was funded by Project CETI via grants from Dalio Philanthropies and Ocean X; Sea Grape Foundation; Virgin Unite, Rosamund Zander/Hansjorg Wyss, Chris Anderson/Jacqueline Novogratz through The Audacious Project: a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED to PS, SG, RP, DFG, DR, AT and JA. Further funding was provided by the J.H.\ and E.V.\ Wade Fund at MIT. Fieldwork for The Dominica Sperm Whale Project was supported by through a FNU fellowship for the Danish Council for Independent Research supplemented by a Sapere Aude Research Talent Award (1325-00047A), a Carlsberg Foundation expedition grant (CF14-0789), two Explorer Grants from the National Geographic Society (WW-218R-17 and NGS-64863R-19), a grant from Focused on Nature, and supplementary grants from the Arizona Center for Nature Conservation, Quarters For Conservation, the Dansk Akustisks Selskab, Oticon Foundation, and the Dansk Tennis Fond all to SG. Further funding was provided by a Discovery and Equipment grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University and a FNU large frame grant and a Villum Foundation Grant (13273) to Peter Madsen of Aarhus University.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pratyusha Sharma
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA
| | - Shane Gero
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada
- The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, Roseau, Dominica
| | | | - David F Gruber
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA
- Baruch College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Daniela Rus
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Antonio Torralba
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Jacob Andreas
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA.
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2
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Youngblood M. Language-like efficiency and structure in house finch song. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240250. [PMID: 38565151 PMCID: PMC10987240 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Communication needs to be complex enough to be functional while minimizing learning and production costs. Recent work suggests that the vocalizations and gestures of some songbirds, cetaceans and great apes may conform to linguistic laws that reflect this trade-off between efficiency and complexity. In studies of non-human communication, though, clustering signals into types cannot be done a priori, and decisions about the appropriate grain of analysis may affect statistical signals in the data. The aim of this study was to assess the evidence for language-like efficiency and structure in house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) song across three levels of granularity in syllable clustering. The results show strong evidence for Zipf's rank-frequency law, Zipf's law of abbreviation and Menzerath's law. Additional analyses show that house finch songs have small-world structure, thought to reflect systematic structure in syntax, and the mutual information decay of sequences is consistent with a combination of Markovian and hierarchical processes. These statistical patterns are robust across three levels of granularity in syllable clustering, pointing to a limited form of scale invariance. In sum, it appears that house finch song has been shaped by pressure for efficiency, possibly to offset the costs of female preferences for complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mason Youngblood
- Minds and Traditions Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Thüringen, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
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3
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Deng K, He QL, Wang TL, Wang JC, Cui JG. Network analysis reveals context-dependent structural complexity of social calls in serrate-legged small treefrogs. Curr Zool 2024; 70:253-261. [PMID: 38726257 PMCID: PMC11078048 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Vocal communication plays an important role in survival, reproduction, and animal social association. Birds and mammals produce complex vocal sequence to convey context-dependent information. Vocalizations are conspicuous features of the behavior of most anuran species (frogs and toads), and males usually alter their calling strategies according to ecological context to improve the attractiveness/competitiveness. However, very few studies have focused on the variation of vocal sequence in anurans. In the present study, we used both conventional method and network analysis to investigate the context-dependent vocal repertoire, vocal sequence, and call network structure in serrate-legged small treefrogs Kurixalus odontotarsus. We found that male K. odontotarsus modified their vocal sequence by switching to different call types and increasing repertoire size in the presence of a competitive rival. Specifically, compared with before and after the playback of advertisement calls, males emitted fewer advertisement calls, but more aggressive calls, encounter calls, and compound calls during the playback period. Network analysis revealed that the mean degree, mean closeness, and mean betweenness of the call networks significantly decreased during the playback period, which resulted in lower connectivity. In addition, the increased proportion of one-way motifs and average path length also indicated that the connectivity of the call network decreased in competitive context. However, the vocal sequence of K. odontotarsus did not display a clear small-world network structure, regardless of context. Our study presents a paradigm to apply network analysis to vocal sequence in anurans and has important implications for understanding the evolution and function of sequence patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Deng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Qiao-Ling He
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Tong-Liang Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, Key Laboratory of Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology of Hainan Province, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Ji-Chao Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, Key Laboratory of Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology of Hainan Province, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Jian-Guo Cui
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
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4
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Arnon I, Kirby S. Cultural evolution creates the statistical structure of language. Sci Rep 2024; 14:5255. [PMID: 38438558 PMCID: PMC10912608 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56152-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Human language is unique in its structure: language is made up of parts that can be recombined in a productive way. The parts are not given but have to be discovered by learners exposed to unsegmented wholes. Across languages, the frequency distribution of those parts follows a power law. Both statistical properties-having parts and having them follow a particular distribution-facilitate learning, yet their origin is still poorly understood. Where do the parts come from and why do they follow a particular frequency distribution? Here, we show how these two core properties emerge from the process of cultural evolution with whole-to-part learning. We use an experimental analog of cultural transmission in which participants copy sets of non-linguistic sequences produced by a previous participant: This design allows us to ask if parts will emerge purely under pressure for the system to be learnable, even without meanings to convey. We show that parts emerge from initially unsegmented sequences, that their distribution becomes closer to a power law over generations, and, importantly, that these properties make the sets of sequences more learnable. We argue that these two core statistical properties of language emerge culturally both as a cause and effect of greater learnability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inbal Arnon
- Psychology Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Simon Kirby
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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5
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Sueur C, Pelé M. Fractals and artificial intelligence to decrypt ideography and understand the evolution of language. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e254. [PMID: 37779275 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23000808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Self-sufficient ideographies are rare because they are stifled by the issue of standardization. Similar issues arise with abstract art or drawings created by young children or great apes. We propose that mathematical indices and artificial intelligence can help us decode ideography, and if not to understand its meaning, at least to know that meaning exists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Sueur
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France ; https://sites.google.com/site/cedricsueuranimalbehaviour/
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Marie Pelé
- ANTHROPO-LAB, ETHICS EA7446, Université Catholique de Lille, Lille, France www.ethobiosciences.com
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6
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Berthet M, Coye C, Dezecache G, Kuhn J. Animal linguistics: a primer. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:81-98. [PMID: 36189714 PMCID: PMC10091714 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The evolution of language has been investigated by several research communities, including biologists and linguists, striving to highlight similar linguistic capacities across species. To date, however, no consensus exists on the linguistic capacities of non-human species. Major controversies remain on the use of linguistic terminology, analysis methods and behavioural data collection. The field of 'animal linguistics' has emerged to overcome these difficulties and attempt to reach uniform methods and terminology. This primer is a tutorial review of 'animal linguistics'. It describes the linguistic concepts of semantics, pragmatics and syntax, and proposes minimal criteria to be fulfilled to claim that a given species displays a particular linguistic capacity. Second, it reviews relevant methods successfully applied to the study of communication in animals and proposes a list of useful references to detect and overcome major pitfalls commonly observed in the collection of animal behaviour data. This primer represents a step towards mutual understanding and fruitful collaborations between linguists and biologists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mélissa Berthet
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005, Paris, France.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zürich, Affolternstrasse 56, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich, Affolternstrasse 56, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Camille Coye
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005, Paris, France.,Center for Ecology and Conservation, Bioscience Department, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, TR10 9FE, UK
| | | | - Jeremy Kuhn
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005, Paris, France
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7
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Intra-individual variation in the songs of humpback whales suggests they are sonically searching for conspecifics. Learn Behav 2022; 50:456-481. [PMID: 34791610 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-021-00495-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Observations of animals' vocal actions can provide important clues about how they communicate and about how they perceive and react to changing situations. Here, analyses of consecutive songs produced by singing humpback whales recorded off the coast of Hawaii revealed that singers constantly vary the acoustic qualities of their songs within prolonged song sessions. Unlike the progressive changes in song structure that singing humpback whales make across months and years, intra-individual acoustic variations within song sessions appear to be largely stochastic. Additionally, four sequentially produced song components (or "themes") were each found to vary in unique ways. The most extensively used theme was highly variable in overall duration within and across song sessions, but varied relatively little in frequency content. In contrast, the remaining themes varied greatly in frequency content, but showed less variation in duration. Analyses of variations in the amount of time singers spent producing the four themes suggest that the mechanisms that determine when singers transition between themes may be comparable to those that control when terrestrial animals move their eyes to fixate on different positions as they examine visual scenes. The dynamic changes that individual whales make to songs within song sessions are counterproductive if songs serve mainly to provide conspecifics with indications of a singer's fitness. Instead, within-session changes to the acoustic features of songs may serve to enhance a singer's capacity to echoically detect, localize, and track conspecifics from long distances.
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8
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Mielke A, Carvalho S. Chimpanzee play sequences are structured hierarchically as games. PeerJ 2022; 10:e14294. [PMID: 36411837 PMCID: PMC9675342 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Social play is ubiquitous in the development of many animal species and involves players adapting actions flexibly to their own previous actions and partner responses. Play differs from other behavioural contexts for which fine-scale analyses of action sequences are available, such as tool use and communication, in that its form is not defined by its function, making it potentially more unpredictable. In humans, play is often organised in games, where players know context-appropriate actions but string them together unpredictably. Here, we use the sequential nature of play elements to explore whether play elements in chimpanzees are structured hierarchically and follow predictable game-like patterns. Based on 5,711 play elements from 143 bouts, we extracted individual-level play sequences of 11 Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of different ages from the Bossou community. We detected transition probabilities between play elements that exceeded expected levels and show that play elements form hierarchically clustered and interchangeable groups, indicative of at least six games that can be identified from transition networks, some with different roles for different players. We also show that increased information about preceding play elements improved predictability of subsequent elements, further indicating that play elements are not strung together randomly but that flexible action rules underlie their usage. Thus, chimpanzee play is hierarchically structured in short games which limit acceptable play elements and allow players to predict and adapt to partners' actions. This "grammar of action" approach to social interactions can be valuable in understanding cognitive and communicative abilities within and across species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Mielke
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom,School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
| | - Susana Carvalho
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom,Interdisciplinary Centre for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
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9
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Cognitive control of song production by humpback whales. Anim Cogn 2022; 25:1133-1149. [PMID: 36058997 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01675-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Revised: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Singing humpback whales are highly versatile vocalizers, producing complex sequences of sounds that they vary throughout adulthood. Past analyses of humpback whale song have emphasized yearly variations in structural features of songs made collectively by singers within a population with comparatively little attention given to the ways that individual singers vary consecutive songs. As a result, many researchers describe singing by humpback whales as a process in which singers produce sequences of repeating sound patterns. Here, we show that such characterizations misrepresent the degree to which humpback whales flexibly and dynamically control the production of sounds and sound patterns within song sessions. Singers recorded off the coast of Hawaii continuously morphed units along multiple acoustic dimensions, with the degree and direction of morphing varying across parallel streams of successive units. Individual singers also produced multiple phrase variants (structurally similar, but acoustically distinctive sequences) within song sessions. The precision with which individual singers maintained some acoustic properties of phrases and morphing trajectories while flexibly changing others suggests that singing humpback whales actively select and adjust acoustic elements of their songs in real time rather than simply repeating stereotyped sound patterns within song sessions.
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10
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Amici F, Oña L, Liebal K. Compositionality in Primate Gestural Communication and Multicomponent Signal Displays. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00316-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Abstract
AbstractCompositionality is the ability to combine meaningful elements into new combinations with novel meanings, and it has long been considered one of the main hallmarks of human communication. However, very few studies have addressed the compositional aspects of communication in species other than humans, although a comparative approach is essential to understand the evolutionary origins of human compositionality. We review previous research on compositionality in the gestural communication systems of nonhuman primates, with a special focus on the multicomponent aspects of compositionality. We start by discussing the importance of a comparative approach to study the evolution of human language and then compare the current state of the art on compositionality in the vocal, facial, and gestural communication systems of primates and other species. We further discuss alternative approaches to study compositionality in primates, which may help overcome some of the current methodological limitations in this research area. In particular, we 1) highlight the importance of interdisciplinary tools that facilitate the statistical identification of multicomponent and multimodal combinations of signals, 2) discuss different approaches to infer the meaning of signal combinations, with a special focus on the use of contextual cues and meta-communication, and 3) discuss temporal and intentional aspects of compositionality in primates. Finally, we outline possible lines of research for future studies in this area (e.g., more consistent use of terms across research areas, use of different methodological tools and larger datasets, inclusion of developmental approaches), which might shed light into the evolutionary origins of one of the most crucial properties of human communication.
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11
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Song complexity is maintained during inter-population cultural transmission of humpback whale songs. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8999. [PMID: 35637205 PMCID: PMC9151787 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12784-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Among animal species, the songs of male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are a rare example of social learning between entire populations. Understanding fine-scale similarity in song patterns and structural features will better clarify how accurately songs are learned during inter-population transmission. Here, six distinct song types (2009–2015) transmitted from the east Australian to New Caledonian populations were quantitatively analysed using fine-scale song features. Results found that New Caledonian whales learned each song type with high accuracy regardless of the pattern’s complexity. However, there were rare instances of themes (stereotyped patterns of sound units) only sung by a single population. These occurred more often in progressively changing ‘evolutionary’ songs compared to rapidly changing ‘revolutionary’ songs. Our results suggest that populations do not need to reduce complexity to accurately learn song patterns. Populations may also incorporate changes and embellishments into songs in the form of themes which are suggested to be learnt as distinct segments. Maintaining complex song patterns with such accuracy suggests significant acoustic contact, supporting the hypothesis that song learning may occur on shared feeding grounds or migration routes. This study improves the understanding of inter-population mechanisms for large-scale cultural transmission in animals.
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12
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Sawant S, Arvind C, Joshi V, Robin VV. Spectrogram cross‐correlation can be used to measure the complexity of bird vocalizations. Methods Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Suyash Sawant
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
| | - Chiti Arvind
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
| | - Viral Joshi
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
| | - V. V. Robin
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
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13
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Abstract
Understanding facial signals in humans and other species is crucial for understanding the evolution, complexity, and function of the face as a communication tool. The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) enables researchers to measure facial movements accurately, but we currently lack tools to reliably analyse data and efficiently communicate results. Network analysis can provide a way to use the information encoded in FACS datasets: by treating individual AUs (the smallest units of facial movements) as nodes in a network and their co-occurrence as connections, we can analyse and visualise differences in the use of combinations of AUs in different conditions. Here, we present ‘NetFACS’, a statistical package that uses occurrence probabilities and resampling methods to answer questions about the use of AUs, AU combinations, and the facial communication system as a whole in humans and non-human animals. Using highly stereotyped facial signals as an example, we illustrate some of the current functionalities of NetFACS. We show that very few AUs are specific to certain stereotypical contexts; that AUs are not used independently from each other; that graph-level properties of stereotypical signals differ; and that clusters of AUs allow us to reconstruct facial signals, even when blind to the underlying conditions. The flexibility and widespread use of network analysis allows us to move away from studying facial signals as stereotyped expressions, and towards a dynamic and differentiated approach to facial communication.
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14
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Mercado E, Perazio CE. All units are equal in humpback whale songs, but some are more equal than others. Anim Cogn 2021; 25:149-177. [PMID: 34363127 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01539-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Revised: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Flexible production and perception of vocalizations is linked to an impressive array of cognitive capacities including language acquisition by humans, song learning by birds, biosonar in bats, and vocal imitation by cetaceans. Here, we characterize a portion of the repertoire of one of the most impressive vocalizers in nature: the humpback whale. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of sounds (units) produced by humpback whales revealed that singers gradually morphed streams of units along multiple acoustic dimensions within songs, maintaining the continuity of spectral content across subjectively dissimilar unit "types." Singers consistently produced some unit forms more frequently and intensely than others, suggesting that units are functionally heterogeneous. The precision with which singing humpback whales continuously adjusted the acoustic characteristics of units shows that they possess exquisite vocal control mechanisms and vocal flexibility beyond what is seen in most animals other than humans. The gradual morphing of units within songs that we observed is inconsistent with past claims that humpback whales construct songs from a fixed repertoire of discrete unit types. These findings challenge the results of past studies based on fixed-unit classification methods and argue for the development of new metrics for characterizing the graded structure of units. The specific vocal variations that singers produced suggest that humpback whale songs are unlikely to provide detailed information about a singer's reproductive fitness, but can reveal the precise locations and movements of singers from long distances and may enhance the effectiveness of units as sonar signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo Mercado
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Park Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA.
| | - Christina E Perazio
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Park Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA.,School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of New England, Biddeford, ME, USA
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15
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Pénitot A, Schwarz D, Nguyen Hong Duc P, Cazau D, Adam O. Bidirectional Interactions With Humpback Whale Singer Using Concrete Sound Elements. Front Psychol 2021; 12:654314. [PMID: 34177706 PMCID: PMC8225952 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.654314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
We describe an art–science project called “Feral Interactions—The Answer of the Humpback Whale” inspired by humpback whale songs and interactions between individuals based on mutual influences, learning process, or ranking in the dominance hierarchy. The aim was to build new sounds that can be used to initiate acoustic interactions with these whales, not in a one-way direction, as playbacks do, but in real interspecies exchanges. Thus, we investigated how the humpback whales generate sounds in order to better understand their abilities and limits. By carefully listening to their emitted vocalizations, we also describe their acoustic features and temporal structure, in a scientific way and also with a musical approach as it is done with musique concrète, in order to specify the types and the morphologies of whale sounds. The idea is to highlight the most precise information to generate our own sounds that will be suggested to the whales. Based on the approach developed in musique concrète, similarities with the sounds produced by bassoon were identified and then were processed to become “concrete sound elements.” This analysis also brought us to design a new music interface that allows us to create adapted musical phrases in real-time. With this approach, interactions will be possible in both directions, from and to whales.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Diemo Schwarz
- Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son, UMR 9912, Ircam, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Paul Nguyen Hong Duc
- CNRS, Institut Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, UMR 7190, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Dorian Cazau
- ENSTA Bretagne, CNRS, Lab-STICC, UMR 6285, Brest, France
| | - Olivier Adam
- CNRS, Institut Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, UMR 7190, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.,CNRS, Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay, UMR 9197, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
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16
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Opaev AS, Kolesnikova YA. Song theme sharing in the Grey-crowned Warbler Phylloscopus tephrocephalus. BIOACOUSTICS 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2021.1910568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- A. S. Opaev
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology and Biocommunication, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Y. A. Kolesnikova
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology and Biocommunication, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
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17
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Mercado E. Song Morphing by Humpback Whales: Cultural or Epiphenomenal? Front Psychol 2021; 11:574403. [PMID: 33519588 PMCID: PMC7844363 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.574403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Singing humpback whales (Megaptera noavaengliae) collectively and progressively change the sounds and patterns they produce within their songs throughout their lives. The dynamic modifications that humpback whales make to their songs are often cited as an impressive example of cultural transmission through vocal learning in a non-human. Some elements of song change challenge this interpretation, however, including: (1) singers often incrementally and progressively morph phrases within and across songs as time passes, with trajectories of change being comparable across multiple time scales; (2) acoustically isolated subpopulations singing similar songs morph the acoustic properties of songs in similar ways; and (3) complex sound patterns, including phrases, themes, and whole songs, recur across years and populations. These properties of song dynamics suggest that singing humpback whales may be modulating song features in response to local conditions and genetic predispositions rather than socially learning novel sound patterns by copying other singers. Experimental and observational tests of key predictions of these alternative hypotheses are critical to identifying how and why singing humpback whales constantly change their songs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo Mercado
- Neural and Cognitive Plasticity Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States
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18
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Kershenbaum A, Demartsev V, Gammon DE, Geffen E, Gustison ML, Ilany A, Lameira AR. Shannon entropy as a robust estimator of Zipf's Law in animal vocal communication repertoires. Methods Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Arik Kershenbaum
- Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
- Girton CollegeUniversity of Cambridge Cambridge UK
| | - Vlad Demartsev
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | | | - Eli Geffen
- School of Zoology Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
| | - Morgan L. Gustison
- Department of Integrative Biology University of Texas at Austin Austin TX USA
| | - Amiyaal Ilany
- Faculty of Life Sciences Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan Israel
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19
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Speck B, Seidita S, Belo S, Johnson S, Conley C, Desjonquères C, Rodríguez RL. Combinatorial Signal Processing in an Insect. Am Nat 2020; 196:406-413. [DOI: 10.1086/710527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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20
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Allen JA, Garland EC, Dunlop RA, Noad MJ. Network analysis reveals underlying syntactic features in a vocally learnt mammalian display, humpback whale song. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20192014. [PMID: 31847766 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal communication systems have a set of rules that govern the arrangement of acoustic signals, broadly defined as 'syntax'. However, there is a limited understanding of potentially shared or analogous rules across vocal displays in different taxa. Recent work on songbirds has investigated syntax using network-based modelling. This technique quantifies features such as connectivity (adjacent signals in a sequence) and recurring patterns. Here, we apply network-based modelling to the complex, hierarchically structured songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from east Australia. Given the song's annual evolving pattern and the cultural conformity of males within a population, network modelling captured the patterns of multiple song types over 13 consecutive years. Song arrangements in each year displayed clear 'small-world' network structure, characterized by clusters of highly connected sounds. Transitions between these connected sounds further suggested a combination of both structural stability and variability. Small-world network structure within humpback songs may facilitate the characteristic and persistent vocal learning observed. Similar small-world structures and transition patterns are found in several birdsong displays, indicating common syntactic patterns among vocal learning in multiple taxa. Understanding the syntactic rules governing vocal displays in multiple, independently evolving lineages may indicate what rules or structural features are important to the evolution of complex communication, including human language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenny A Allen
- Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia.,School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland 4222, Australia
| | - Ellen C Garland
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Rebecca A Dunlop
- Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia
| | - Michael J Noad
- Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia
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