scholarly journals Operant control and call usage learning in African elephants

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1836) ◽  
pp. 20200254
Author(s):  
Angela S. Stoeger ◽  
Anton Baotic
Keyword(s):  
Low Frequency ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
African Elephants ◽  
Verbal Cues ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Call Usage ◽  
Usage Learning

Elephants exhibit remarkable vocal plasticity, and case studies reveal that individuals of African savannah ( Loxodonta africana ) and Asian ( Elephas maximus ) elephants are capable of vocal production learning. Surprisingly, however, little is known about contextual learning (usage and comprehension learning) in elephant communication. Usage learning can be demonstrated by training animals to vocalize in an arbitrary (cue-triggered) context. Here we show that adult African savannah elephants ( n = 13) can vocalize in response to verbal cues, reliably producing social call types such as the low-frequency rumble, trumpets and snorts as well as atypical sounds using various mechanisms, thus displaying compound vocal control. We further show that rumbles emitted upon trainer cues differ significantly in structure from rumbles triggered by social contexts of the same individuals ( n = 6). Every form of social learning increases the complexity of a communication system. In elephants, we only poorly understand their vocal learning abilities and the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Among other research, this calls for controlled learning experiments in which the prerequisite is operant/volitional control of vocalizations. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.

scholarly journals Vocal plasticity in harbour seal pups

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Torres Borda ◽  
Yannick Jadoul ◽  
Heikki Rasilo ◽  
Anna Salazar Casals ◽  
Andrea Ravignani
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Noise Condition ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Lombard Effect ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
Exposed Individual ◽  
Filtered Noise

ABSTRACTVocal plasticity can occur in response to environmental and biological factors, including conspecifics’ vocalisations and noise. Pinnipeds are one of the few mammalian groups capable of vocal learning, and are therefore relevant to understanding the evolution of vocal plasticity in humans and other animals. Here, we investigate the vocal plasticity of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina), a species with vocal learning abilities attested in adulthood but not puppyhood. To zoom into early mammalian vocal development, we tested 1-3 weeks old seal pups. We tailored noise playbacks to this species and age to induce seal pups to shift their fundamental frequency (F0), rather than adapt call amplitude or temporal characteristics. We exposed individual pups to bandpass-filtered noise, which purposely spanned – and masked – their typical range of F0s, and simultaneously recorded pups’ spontaneous calls. Seals were able to modify their vocalisations quite unlike most mammals: They lowered their F0 in response to increased noise. This modulation was punctual and adapted to the particular noise condition. In addition, higher noise induced less dispersion around the mean F0, suggesting that pups may have been actively focusing their phonatory efforts to target lower frequencies. Noise masking did not seem to affect call amplitude. However, one seal showed two characteristics of the Lombard effect known for human speech in noise: significant increase in call amplitude and flattening of spectral tilt. Our relatively low noise levels may have favoured F0 shifts while inhibiting amplitude adjustments. This lowering of F0 is quite unusual, as other animals commonly display no F0 shift independently of noise amplitude. Our data represents a relatively rare case in mammalian neonates, and may have implications for the evolution of vocal plasticity across species, including humans.

scholarly journals Long-lasting vocal plasticity in adult marmoset monkeys

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1905) ◽  
pp. 20190817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingyun Zhao ◽  
Bahar Boroumand Rad ◽  
Xiaoqin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Communication ◽  
New World ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Common Marmosets ◽  
World Primate

Humans exhibit a high level of vocal plasticity in speech production, which allows us to acquire both native and foreign languages and dialects, and adapt to local accents in social communication. In comparison, non-human primates exhibit limited vocal plasticity, especially in adulthood, which would limit their ability to adapt to different social and environmental contexts in vocal communication. Here, we quantitatively examined the ability of adult common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus ), a highly vocal New World primate species, to modulate their vocal production in social contexts. While recent studies have demonstrated vocal learning in developing marmosets, we know much less about the extent of vocal learning and plasticity in adult marmosets. We found, in the present study, that marmosets were able to adaptively modify the spectrotemporal structure of their vocalizations when they encountered interfering sounds. Our experiments showed that marmosets shifted the spectrum of their vocalizations away from the spectrum of the interfering sounds in order to avoid the overlap. More interestingly, we found that marmosets made predictive and long-lasting spectral shifts in their vocalizations after they had experienced a particular type of interfering sound. These observations provided evidence for directional control of the vocalization spectrum and long-term vocal plasticity by adult marmosets. The findings reported here have important implications for the ability of this New World primate species in voluntarily and adaptively controlling their vocal production in social communication.

The social contexts of some very low frequency calls of African elephants

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 385-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce H. Poole ◽  
Katherine Payne ◽  
William R. Langbauer ◽  
Cynthia J. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Low Frequency ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
African Elephants ◽  
Very Low Frequency ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals Vocal plasticity in harbour seal pups

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1840) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Torres Borda ◽  
Yannick Jadoul ◽  
Heikki Rasilo ◽  
Anna Salazar Casals ◽  
Andrea Ravignani
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Experimental Manipulation ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Noise Condition ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Lombard Effect ◽  
Exposed Individual ◽  
Filtered Noise

Vocal plasticity can occur in response to environmental and biological factors, including conspecifics' vocalizations and noise. Pinnipeds are one of the few mammalian groups capable of vocal learning, and are therefore relevant to understanding the evolution of vocal plasticity in humans and other animals. Here, we investigate the vocal plasticity of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ), a species with vocal learning abilities observed in adulthood but not puppyhood. To evaluate early mammalian vocal development, we tested 1–3 weeks-old seal pups. We tailored noise playbacks to this species and age to induce seal pups to shift their fundamental frequency ( f 0 ), rather than adapt call amplitude or temporal characteristics. We exposed individual pups to low- and high-intensity bandpass-filtered noise, which spanned—and masked—their typical range of f 0 ; simultaneously, we recorded pups' spontaneous calls. Unlike most mammals, pups modified their vocalizations by lowering their f 0 in response to increased noise. This modulation was precise and adapted to the particular experimental manipulation of the noise condition. In addition, higher levels of noise induced less dispersion around the mean f 0 , suggesting that pups may have actively focused their phonatory efforts to target lower frequencies. Noise did not seem to affect call amplitude. However, one seal showed two characteristics of the Lombard effect known for human speech in noise: significant increase in call amplitude and flattening of spectral tilt. Our relatively low noise levels may have favoured f 0 modulation while inhibiting amplitude adjustments. This lowering of f 0 is unusual, as most animals commonly display no such f 0 shift. Our data represent a relatively rare case in mammalian neonates, and have implications for the evolution of vocal plasticity and vocal learning across species, including humans. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part I)’.

scholarly journals Chromosomal Evolution in Psittaciformes. Revisited

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
A. Villa Rus ◽  
J. C. Cigudosa ◽  
J. L. Carrasco Juan ◽  
A. Otero Gomez ◽  
T. Acosta Almeida ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Rearrangement ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Chromosomal Evolution ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Human Attention ◽  
Evolutionary Radiation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Parrot Species ◽  
Evolutionary Comparisons

<p class="1Body">With colourful plumage, charismatic character and vocal learning abilities, parrots are one of the most striking and recognizable bird groups. Their attractiveness has drawn human attention for centuries, and members of the Psittaciformes order were, also, among the first avian species to be subject to cytogenetic studies which have contributed to understand their taxonomic and evolutionary relationships.</p><p class="1Body">We present here the karyological results collected by the study of thirteen parrot species new to karyology. These results are additionally supported by G banded preparations obtained in five species.</p><p class="1Body">The order Psittaciformes is an interesting example of a, typically, non migratory avian lineage with Gondwanaland origin, whose evolutionary radiation has been shaped by the Cenozoic geographic and climatic events that affected the land masses derived from the Gondwanaland continental split.</p><p class="1Body">We discuss the results of our studies, in conjunction with the previously compiled Psittaciformes cytogenetic data to delineate a picture of the chromosomal evolution of the order, concurrently with the biogeographic history of the lands in the southern Hemisphere.</p><p class="1Body">Considering the available data on parrot cytogenetics, a "standard parrot karyotype pattern" is proposed for evolutionary comparisons.</p><p class="1Body">Several biogeographic, and phylogenetically related "karyogram patterns" are also identified, and mechanisms of chromosome rearrangement that associate this patterns among them, and with the standard parrot karyotype pattern are proposed. These schemes on parrot chromosomal variation are discussed in relation to the general avian chromosome evolutionary theses proposed by cytogenetic and molecular genomic researchers.</p>

scholarly journals If horses entrain, don’t entirely reject vocal learning: An experience-based vocal learning hypothesis

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adena Schachner
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Genetic Change ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Learning Hypothesis

Bregman and colleagues describe methods for testing whether horses entrain their actions to an auditory beat. If horses can entrain, does this necessarily imply that there is no causal relationship between vocal learning and entrainment? I propose an alternative way in which vocal learning may relate to entrainment &ndash; one that is consistent with entrainment in some vocal non-learning species. Due to engaging in the developmental process of vocal learning, there may be early experiences common to vocal learners, but rare in vocal non-learning species. It is possible that it is these experiences that are critical for entrainment &ndash; not vocal learning itself, nor related genes. These experiences may result in critical changes in neural development, leading to the development of cognitive mechanisms necessary for both vocal learning and entrainment. This hypothesis changes the causal story from one of genetic change to one of changes in experience, and from a focus on evolution to a focus on individual ontogeny. Thus, if horses can entrain, we should not immediately reject the idea of a relationship between vocal learning and entrainment: First, we should consider whether some unusual aspect of the horses&rsquo; experience effectively replicates the unusual experiences of vocal learning animals.

scholarly journals Shared mechanisms of auditory and non-auditory vocal learning in the songbird brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James McGregor ◽  
Abigail Grassler ◽  
Paul I. Jaffe ◽  
Amanda Louise Jacob ◽  
Michael Brainard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Vocal Plasticity

Songbirds and humans share the ability to adaptively modify their vocalizations based on sensory feedback. Prior studies have focused primarily on the role that auditory feedback plays in shaping vocal output throughout life. In contrast, it is unclear whether and how non-auditory information drives vocal plasticity. Here, we first used a reinforcement learning paradigm to establish that non-auditory feedback can drive vocal learning in adult songbirds. We then assessed the role of a songbird basal ganglia-thalamocortical pathway critical to auditory vocal learning in this novel form of vocal plasticity. We found that both this circuit and its dopaminergic inputs are necessary for non-auditory vocal learning, demonstrating that this pathway is not specialized exclusively for auditory-driven vocal learning. The ability of this circuit to use both auditory and non-auditory information to guide vocal learning may reflect a general principle for the neural systems that support vocal plasticity across species.

Antiphonal exchanges in African elephants (Loxodonta africana): collective response to a shared stimulus, social facilitation, or true communicative event?

Behaviour ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 145 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Savage ◽  
Joseph Soltis ◽  
Katherine Leighty ◽  
Kirsten Leong
Keyword(s):  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Individual Identification ◽  
Vocal Response ◽  
African Elephants ◽  
Facilitation Effect ◽  
The Social ◽  
Independent Effects ◽  
The Individual ◽  
External Stimuli

AbstractFemale African elephants are thought to exchange 'rumble' vocalizations, but such temporally associated calls may not constitute communicative events. Affiliated females are more likely to engage in antiphonal calling, but affiliation is defined according to time spent in proximity. Affiliated partners may vocalize in sequence simply because their proximity causes them to collectively respond to shared external stimuli or due to a social facilitation effect. We used bi-variate and partial correlation analyses to test for the independent effects of the strength of the social relationship and distance between vocal partners on the likelihood of a vocal response. Female African elephants at Disney's Animal Kingdom were video-taped and outfitted with audio-recording collars that allowed for the individual identification of low-frequency rumbles. Affiliation had a strong influence on response likelihood, even after controlling for the effects of the distance between vocalizing partners. Further, the distance between vocalizing partners did not correlate with response likelihood, and factoring out the effects of affiliation did not significantly alter this result. These results suggest that rumble exchanges are communicative events that reflect social bonds, not simply artifacts of increased proximity and, therefore, provide support for functional hypotheses concerning rumble exchanges in wild African elephants.

Elephant low‐frequency vocalizations propagate in the ground and seismic playbacks of these vocalizations are detectable by wild African elephants (Loxodonta africana)

2004 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 2554-2554
Author(s):  
Caitlin E. O’Connell‐Rodwell ◽  
Jason D. Wood ◽  
Roland Gunther ◽  
Simon Klemperer ◽  
Timothy C. Rodwell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Frequency ◽  
Loxodonta Africana ◽  
African Elephants

scholarly journals Piglets vocally express the anticipation of pseudo-social contexts in their grunts

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Villain ◽  
A. Hazard ◽  
M. Danglot ◽  
C. Guérin ◽  
A. Boissy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Spectral Parameters ◽  
Emotional Context ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Temporal Features ◽  
Emotional Value ◽  
Vocal Expressions

Abstract Emotions not only arise in reaction to an event but also while anticipating it, making this context a means of accessing the emotional value of events. Before now, anticipatory studies have rarely considered whether vocalisations carry information about emotional states. We studied both the grunts of piglets and their spatial behaviour as they anticipated two (pseudo)social events known to elicit positive emotions of different intensity: arrival of familiar conspecifics and arrival of a familiar human. Piglets spatially anticipated both pseudo-social contexts, and the spectro temporal features of grunts differed according to the emotional context. Piglets produced low-frequency grunts at a higher rate when anticipating conspecifics compared to anticipating a human. Spectral noise increased when piglets expected conspecifics, whereas the duration and frequency range increased when expecting a human. When the arrival of conspecifics was delayed, the grunt duration increased, whereas when the arrival of the human was delayed, the spectral parameters were comparable to those during isolation. This shows that vocal expressions in piglets during anticipation are specific to the expected reward. Vocal expressions—both their temporal and spectral features- are thus a good way to explore the emotional state of piglets during the anticipation of challenging events.

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