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Maldonado PE, Concha-Miranda M, Schwalm M. Autogenous cerebral processes: an invitation to look at the brain from inside out. Front Neural Circuits 2023; 17:1253609. [PMID: 37941893 PMCID: PMC10629273 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2023.1253609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023] Open
Abstract
While external stimulation can reliably trigger neuronal activity, cerebral processes can operate independently from the environment. In this study, we conceptualize autogenous cerebral processes (ACPs) as intrinsic operations of the brain that exist on multiple scales and can influence or shape stimulus responses, behavior, homeostasis, and the physiological state of an organism. We further propose that the field should consider exploring to what extent perception, arousal, behavior, or movement, as well as other cognitive functions previously investigated mainly regarding their stimulus-response dynamics, are ACP-driven.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro E. Maldonado
- Departamento de Neurociencia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Biomedical Neuroscience Institute (BNI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
- National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), Santiago, Chile
| | - Miguel Concha-Miranda
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Miriam Schwalm
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
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Löschner J, Pomberger T, Hage SR. Marmoset monkeys use different avoidance strategies to cope with ambient noise during vocal behavior. iScience 2023; 26:106219. [PMID: 36915693 PMCID: PMC10006620 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Multiple strategies have evolved to compensate for masking noise, leading to changes in call features. One call adjustment is the Lombard effect, an increase in call amplitude in response to noise. Another strategy involves call production in periods where noise is absent. While mechanisms underlying vocal adjustments have been well studied, mechanisms underlying noise avoidance strategies remain largely unclear. We systematically perturbed ongoing phee calls of marmosets to investigate noise avoidance strategies. Marmosets canceled their calls after noise onset and produced longer calls after noise-phases ended. Additionally, the number of uttered syllables decreased during noise perturbation. This behavior persisted beyond the noise-phase. Using machine learning techniques, we found that a fraction of single phees were initially planned as double phees and became interrupted after the first syllable. Our findings indicate that marmosets use different noise avoidance strategies and suggest vocal flexibility at different complexity levels in the marmoset brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Löschner
- Neurobiology of Social Communication, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Hearing Research Center, University of Tübingen, Medical Center, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Strasse 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Thomas Pomberger
- Neurobiology of Social Communication, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Hearing Research Center, University of Tübingen, Medical Center, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Strasse 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Graduate School of Neural & Behavioural Sciences - International Max Planck Research School, University of Tübingen, Österberg-Str. 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Steffen R Hage
- Neurobiology of Social Communication, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Hearing Research Center, University of Tübingen, Medical Center, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Strasse 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
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Burkart JM, Adriaense JEC, Brügger RK, Miss FM, Wierucka K, van Schaik CP. A convergent interaction engine: vocal communication among marmoset monkeys. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210098. [PMID: 35876206 PMCID: PMC9315454 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
To understand the primate origins of the human interaction engine, it is worthwhile to focus not only on great apes but also on callitrichid monkeys (marmosets and tamarins). Like humans, but unlike great apes, callitrichids are cooperative breeders, and thus habitually engage in coordinated joint actions, for instance when an infant is handed over from one group member to another. We first explore the hypothesis that these habitual cooperative interactions, the marmoset interactional ethology, are supported by the same key elements as found in the human interaction engine: mutual gaze (during joint action), turn-taking, volubility, as well as group-wide prosociality and trust. Marmosets show clear evidence of these features. We next examine the prediction that, if such an interaction engine can indeed give rise to more flexible communication, callitrichids may also possess elaborate communicative skills. A review of marmoset vocal communication confirms unusual abilities in these small primates: high volubility and large vocal repertoires, vocal learning and babbling in immatures, and voluntary usage and control. We end by discussing how the adoption of cooperative breeding during human evolution may have catalysed language evolution by adding these convergent consequences to the great ape-like cognitive system of our hominin ancestors. This article is part of the theme issue 'Revisiting the human 'interaction engine': comparative approaches to social action coordination'.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. M. Burkart
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution ISLE, University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - J. E. C. Adriaense
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - R. K. Brügger
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - F. M. Miss
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - K. Wierucka
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - C. P. van Schaik
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution ISLE, University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
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Gultekin YB, Hildebrand DGC, Hammerschmidt K, Hage SR. High plasticity in marmoset monkey vocal development from infancy to adulthood. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/27/eabf2938. [PMID: 34193413 PMCID: PMC8245035 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf2938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The vocal behavior of human infants undergoes marked changes across their first year while becoming increasingly speech-like. Conversely, vocal development in nonhuman primates has been assumed to be largely predetermined and completed within the first postnatal months. Contradicting this assumption, we found a dichotomy between the development of call features and vocal sequences in marmoset monkeys, suggestive of a role for experience. While changes in call features were related to physical maturation, sequences of and transitions between calls remained flexible until adulthood. As in humans, marmoset vocal behavior developed in stages correlated with motor and social development stages. These findings are evidence for a prolonged phase of plasticity during marmoset vocal development, a crucial primate evolutionary preadaptation for the emergence of vocal learning and speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasemin B Gultekin
- Neurobiology of Social Communication, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Medical Center, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - David G C Hildebrand
- Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Kurt Hammerschmidt
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Steffen R Hage
- Neurobiology of Social Communication, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Medical Center, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
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