The Phylogenetic Roots of Language

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
Physical Environment ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Primate Cognition ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Vocal Signals

The anatomy of the nonhuman primate vocal tract is not fundamentally different from the human one. Notwithstanding, nonhuman primates are remarkably unskillful at controlling vocal production and at combining basic call units into more complex strings. Instead, their vocal behavior is linked to specific psychological states, which are evoked by events in their social or physical environment. Humans are the only primates that have evolved the ability to produce elaborate and willfully controlled vocal signals, although this may have been a fairly recent invention. Despite their expressive limitations, nonhuman primates have demonstrated a surprising degree of cognitive complexity when responding to other individuals' vocalizations, suggesting that, as recipients, crucial linguistic abilities are part of primate cognition. Pivotal aspects of language comprehension, particularly the ability to process semantic content, may thus be part of our primate heritage. The strongest evidence currently comes from Old World monkeys, but recent work indicates that these capacities may also be present in our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.

Cognitive Control of Distinct Vocalizations in Rhesus Monkeys

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 1692-1701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen R. Hage ◽  
Natalja Gavrilov ◽  
Andreas Nieder
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Signal Detection Theory ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Task ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Noncognitive Factors

Whether nonhuman primates can decouple their innate vocalizations from accompanied levels of arousal or specific events in the environment to achieve cognitive control over their vocal utterances has been a matter of debate for decades. We show that rhesus monkeys can be trained to elicit different call types on command in response to arbitrary visual cues. Furthermore, we report that a monkey learned to switch between two distinct call types from trial to trial in response to different visual cues. A controlled behavioral protocol and data analysis based on signal detection theory showed that noncognitive factors as a cause for the monkeys' vocalizations could be excluded. Our findings also suggest that monkeys also have rudimentary control over acoustic call parameters. These findings indicate that monkeys are able to volitionally initiate their vocal production and, therefore, are able to instrumentalize their vocal behavior to perform a behavioral task successfully.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic reorganization of the basal ganglia: A necessary, but not the only, bridge over a primate Rubicon of acoustic communication

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 577-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann Ackermann ◽  
Steffen R. Hage ◽  
Wolfram Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Acoustic Communication ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Experimental Investigations ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Target Article ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this response to commentaries, we revisit the two main arguments of our target article. Based on data drawn from a variety of research areas – vocal behavior in nonhuman primates, speech physiology and pathology, neurobiology of basal ganglia functions, motor skill learning, paleoanthropological concepts – the target article, first, suggests a two-stage model of the evolution of the crucial motor prerequisites of spoken language within the hominin lineage: (1) monosynaptic refinement of the projections of motor cortex to brainstem nuclei steering laryngeal muscles, and (2) subsequent “vocal-laryngeal elaboration” of cortico-basal ganglia circuits, driven by human-specific FOXP2 mutations. Second, as concerns the ontogenetic development of verbal communication, age-dependent interactions between the basal ganglia and their cortical targets are assumed to contribute to the time course of the acquisition of articulate speech. Whereas such a phylogenetic reorganization of cortico-striatal circuits must be considered a necessary prerequisite for ontogenetic speech acquisition, the 30 commentaries – addressing the whole range of data sources referred to – point at several further aspects of acoustic communication which have to be added to or integrated with the presented model. For example, the relationships between vocal tract movement sequencing – the focus of the target article – and rhythmical structures of movement organization, the connections between speech motor control and the central-auditory and central-visual systems, the impact of social factors upon the development of vocal behavior (in nonhuman primates and in our species), and the interactions of ontogenetic speech acquisition – based upon FOXP2-driven structural changes at the level of the basal ganglia – with preceding subvocal stages of acoustic communication as well as higher-order (cognitive) dimensions of phonological development. Most importantly, thus, several promising future research directions unfold from these contributions – accessible to clinical studies and functional imaging in our species as well as experimental investigations in nonhuman primates.

Bimodal signaling in infancy

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Locke
Keyword(s):  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Wide Margin ◽  
Evolutionary Path ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Communicative Context ◽  
The Relationship

It has long been asserted that the evolutionary path to spoken language was paved by manual–gestural behaviors, a claim that has been revitalized in response to recent research on mirror neurons. Renewed interest in the relationship between manual and vocal behavior draws attention to its development. Here, the pointing and vocalization of 16.5-month-old infants are reported as a function of the context in which they occurred. When infants operated in a referential mode, the frequency of simultaneous vocalization and pointing exceeded the frequency of vocalization-only and pointing-only responses by a wide margin. In a non-communicative context, combinatorial effects persisted, but in weaker form. Manual–vocal signals thus appear to express the operation of an integrated system, arguably adaptive in the young from evolutionary times to the present. It was speculated, based on reported evidence, that manual behavior increases the frequency and complexity of vocal behaviors in modern infants. There may be merit in the claim that manual behavior facilitated the evolution of language because it helped make available, early in development, behaviors that under selection pressures in later ontogenetic stages elaborated into speech.

Setting the Stage for Speech Production: Infants Prefer Listening to Speech Sounds With Infant Vocal Resonances

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Linda Polka ◽  
Matthew Masapollo ◽  
Lucie Ménard
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Perceptual Bias ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Young Infants

Purpose: Current models of speech development argue for an early link between speech production and perception in infants. Recent data show that young infants (at 4–6 months) preferentially attend to speech sounds (vowels) with infant vocal properties compared to those with adult vocal properties, suggesting the presence of special “memory banks” for one's own nascent speech-like productions. This study investigated whether the vocal resonances (formants) of the infant vocal tract are sufficient to elicit this preference and whether this perceptual bias changes with age and emerging vocal production skills. Method: We selectively manipulated the fundamental frequency ( f 0 ) of vowels synthesized with formants specifying either an infant or adult vocal tract, and then tested the effects of those manipulations on the listening preferences of infants who were slightly older than those previously tested (at 6–8 months). Results: Unlike findings with younger infants (at 4–6 months), slightly older infants in Experiment 1 displayed a robust preference for vowels with infant formants over adult formants when f 0 was matched. The strength of this preference was also positively correlated with age among infants between 4 and 8 months. In Experiment 2, this preference favoring infant over adult formants was maintained when f 0 values were modulated. Conclusions: Infants between 6 and 8 months of age displayed a robust and distinct preference for speech with resonances specifying a vocal tract that is similar in size and length to their own. This finding, together with data indicating that this preference is not present in younger infants and appears to increase with age, suggests that nascent knowledge of the motor schema of the vocal tract may play a role in shaping this perceptual bias, lending support to current models of speech development. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17131805

Voice Production and Perception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roza G. Kamiloğlu ◽  
Disa A. Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Vocal Apparatus ◽  
Nonverbal Vocalizations ◽  
Stage Process ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
The Voice

The voice is a prime channel of communication in humans and other animals. Voices convey many kinds of information, including physical characteristics like body size and sex, as well as providing cues to the vocalizing individual’s identity and emotional state. Vocalizations are produced by dynamic modifications of the physiological vocal production system. The source-filter theory explains how vocalizations are produced in two stages: (a) the production of a sound source in the larynx, and (b) the filtering of that sound by the vocal tract. This two-stage process largely applies to all primate vocalizations. However, there are some differences between the vocal production apparatus of humans as compared to nonhuman primates, such as the lower position of the larynx and lack of air sacs in humans. Thanks to our flexible vocal apparatus, humans can produce a range of different types of vocalizations, including spoken language, nonverbal vocalizations, whispering, and singing. A comprehensive understanding of vocal communication takes both production and perception of vocalizations into account. Internal processes are expressed in the form of specific acoustic patterns in the producer’s voice. In order to communicate information in vocalizations, those acoustic patterns must be acoustically registered by listeners via auditory perception mechanisms. Both production and perception of vocalizations are affected by psychobiological mechanisms as well as sociocultural factors. Furthermore, vocal production and perception can be impaired by a range of different disorders. Vocal production and hearing disorders, as well as mental disorders including autism spectrum disorder, depression, and schizophrenia, affect vocal communication.

scholarly journals Vocal Tract Morphology Determines Species-Specific Features in Vocal Signals of Lemurs (Eulemur)

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1453-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Gamba ◽  
Olivier Friard ◽  
Cristina Giacoma
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Species Specific

Vocal Tract Limitations on the Vowel Repertoires of Rhesus Monkey and other Nonhuman Primates

Science ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 164 (3884) ◽  
pp. 1185-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. Lieberman ◽  
D. H. Klatt ◽  
W. H. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Monkey ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Tract

scholarly journals Conjunction of Vocal Production and Perception Regulates Expression of the Immediate Early Gene ZENK in a Novel Cortical Region of Songbirds

2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 1833-1842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah W. Bottjer ◽  
Tanya L. Alderete ◽  
Daniel Chang
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Early Gene ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Developmentally Regulated ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Cortical Nucleus ◽  
Magnocellular Nucleus ◽  
Low Levels

The cortical nucleus LMAN (lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium) provides the output of a basal ganglia pathway that is necessary for acquisition of learned vocal behavior during development in songbirds. LMAN is composed of two subregions, a core and a surrounding shell, that give rise to independent pathways that traverse the forebrain in parallel. The LMANshell pathway forms a recurrent loop that includes a cortical region, the dorsal region of the caudolateral nidopallium (dNCL), hitherto unknown to be involved with learned vocal behavior. Here we show that vocal production strongly induces the IEG product ZENK in dNCL of zebra finches. Hearing tutor song while singing is more effective at inducing expression in dNCL of juvenile birds during the auditory–motor integration stage of vocal learning than is hearing conspecific song. In contrast, hearing conspecific song is relatively more effective at inducing expression in adult birds, regardless of whether they are producing song. Furthermore, ZENK+ neurons in dNCL include projection neurons that are part of the LMANshell recurrent loop and a high proportion of dNCL projection neurons express ZENK in singing juvenile birds that hear tutor song. Thus juvenile birds that are actively refining their vocal pattern to imitate a tutor song show high levels of ZENK induction in dNCL neurons when they are singing while hearing the song of their tutor and low levels when they hear a novel conspecific. This pattern indicates that dNCL is a novel brain region involved with vocal learning and that its function is developmentally regulated.

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