High plasticity in marmoset monkey vocal development from infancy to adulthood

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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Afferent influences on cell death and birth during development of a cortical nucleus necessary for learned vocal behavior in zebra finches

Development ◽

10.1242/dev.120.1.13 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 120 (1) ◽

pp. 13-24

Author(s):

F. Johnson ◽

S. W. Bottjer

Keyword(s):

Vocal Learning ◽

Afferent Input ◽

Vocal Behavior ◽

Projection Neurons ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Vocal Development ◽

Neuron Death ◽

Cortical Nucleus ◽

Alternate Source ◽

Cortical Regions

Forebrain nuclei that control learned vocal behavior in zebra finches are anatomically distinct and interconnected by a simple pattern of axonal pathways. In the present study, we examined afferent regulation of neuronal survival during development of the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA). RA projection neurons form the descending motor pathway of cortical vocal-control regions and are believed to be directly involved in vocal production. RA receives afferent inputs from two other cortical regions, the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (lMAN) and the higher vocal center (HVC). However, because the ingrowth of HVC afferent input is delayed, lMAN projection neurons provide the majority of afferent input to RA during early vocal learning. lMAN afferent input to RA is of particular interest because lMAN is necessary for vocal learning only during a restricted period of development. By making lesions of lMAN in male zebra finches at various stages of vocal development (20-60 days of age) and in adults (>90-days old), we asked whether the survival of RA neurons depends on lMAN afferent input, and if so whether such dependence changes over the course of vocal learning. The results showed that removal of lMAN afferent input induced the loss of over 40% of RA neurons among birds in early stages of vocal development (20 days of age). However, lMAN lesions lost the ability to induce RA neuron death among birds in later stages of vocal development (40 days of age and older). These findings indicate that many RA neurons require lMAN afferent input for their survival during early vocal learning, whereas the inability of lMAN lesions to induce RA neuron death in older birds may indicate a reduced requirement for afferent input or perhaps the delayed ingrowth of HVC afferent input (at approx. 35 days of age) provides an alternate source of afferent support. Removal of lMAN afferent input also dramatically increased the incidence of mitotic figures in RA, but only among 20-day-old birds at 2 days post-lesion. The early, acute nature of the mitotic events raises the possibility that cell division in RA may be regulated by lMAN afferent input.

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Protophones, the precursors to speech, dominate the human infant vocal landscape

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2020.0255 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 376 (1836) ◽

pp. 20200255

Author(s):

D. Kimbrough Oller ◽

Gordon Ramsay ◽

Edina Bene ◽

Helen L. Long ◽

Ulrike Griebel

Keyword(s):

Random Sampling ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Vocal Learning ◽

Human Infant ◽

First Year ◽

Theme Issue ◽

Human Infants ◽

Infant Vocalization ◽

Species Comparisons ◽

New Evidence

Human infant vocalization is viewed as a critical foundation for vocal learning and language. All apes share distress sounds (shrieks and cries) and laughter. Another vocal type, speech-like sounds, common in human infants, is rare but not absent in other apes. These three vocal types form a basis for especially informative cross-species comparisons. To make such comparisons possible we need empirical research documenting the frequency of occurrence of all three. The present work provides a comprehensive portrayal of these three vocal types in the human infant from longitudinal research in various circumstances of recording. Recently, the predominant vocalizations of the human infant have been shown to be speech-like sounds, or ‘protophones’, including both canonical and non-canonical babbling. The research shows that protophones outnumber cries by a factor of at least five based on data from random-sampling of all-day recordings across the first year. The present work expands on the prior reports, showing the protophones vastly outnumber both cry and laughter in both all-day and laboratory recordings in various circumstances. The data provide new evidence of the predominance of protophones in the infant vocal landscape and illuminate their role in human vocal learning and the origin of language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.

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Vocal learning beyond imitation: mechanisms of adaptive vocal development in songbirds and human infants

Current Opinion in Neurobiology ◽

10.1016/j.conb.2014.06.002 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 42-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Ofer Tchernichovski ◽

Gary Marcus

Keyword(s):

Vocal Learning ◽

Vocal Development ◽

Human Infants

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Distribution ofStreptococcus mitisbiovar 1 phenotypes on shedding and non-shedding oral surfaces of human infants during the first year of life

Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease ◽

10.3402/mehd.v17i3.7785 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer L. Kirchherr ◽

George H. Bowden ◽

Dorothy A. Richmond ◽

Michael J. Sheridan ◽

Katherine A. Wirth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

First Year ◽

Human Infants ◽

First Year Of Life

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Traffic noise disrupts vocal development and suppresses immune function

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.abe2405 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (20) ◽

pp. eabe2405

Author(s):

Henrik Brumm ◽

Wolfgang Goymann ◽

Sébastien Derégnaucourt ◽

Nicole Geberzahn ◽

Sue Anne Zollinger

Keyword(s):

Immune Function ◽

Noise Exposure ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Vocal Learning ◽

Noise Pollution ◽

Experimental Models ◽

Speech Development ◽

Vocal Development ◽

Learning Impairments ◽

Cognitive Deficiencies

Noise pollution has been linked to learning and language deficits in children, but the causal mechanisms connecting noise to cognitive deficiencies remain unclear because experimental models are lacking. Here, we investigated the effects of noise on birdsong learning, the primary animal model for vocal learning and speech development in humans. We found that traffic noise exposure retarded vocal development and led to learning inaccuracies. In addition, noise suppressed immune function during the sensitive learning period, indicating that it is a potent stressor for birds, which is likely to compromise their cognitive functions. Our results provide important insights into the consequences of noise pollution and pave the way for future studies using birdsong as an experimental model for the investigation of noise-induced learning impairments.

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The critical role of experience in the early development of multisensory perception

Seeing and Perceiving ◽

10.1163/187847612x648297 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 25 (0) ◽

pp. 200

Author(s):

David J. Lewkowicz

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Critical Role ◽

Early Experience ◽

Multisensory Perception ◽

First Year ◽

Early Deprivation ◽

Human Infants ◽

Perceptual Skills ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Perceptual Narrowing

Human infancy is a time of rapid neural and behavioral development and multisensory perceptual skills emerge during this time. Both animal and human early deprivation studies have shown that experience contributes critically to the development of multisensory perception. Unfortunately, Bodison because the human deprivation studies have only studied adult responsiveness, little is known about the more immediate effects of early experience on multisensory development. Consequently, we have embarked on a program of research to investigate how early experience affects the development of multisensory perception in human infants. To do so, we have focused on multisensory perceptual narrowing, an experience-dependent process where initially broad perceptual tuning is narrowed to match the infant’s native environment. In this talk, I first review our work demonstrating that multisensory narrowing characterizes infants’ response to non-native (i.e., monkey) faces and voices, that the initially broad tuning is present at birth, that narrowing also occurs in the audiovisual speech domain, and that multisensory narrowing is an evolutionarily novel process. In the second part of the talk, I present findings from our most recent studies indicating that experience has a seemingly paradoxical effect on infant response to audio–visual synchrony, that experience narrows infant response to amodal language and intonational prosody cues, and that experience interacts with developmental changes in selective attention during the first year of life resulting in dramatic developmental shifts in human infants’ selective attention to the eyes and mouth of their interlocutors’ talking faces.

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The Development Stages of Rear Upright for Formula Car

Innovations in Engineering Education: Mechanical Engineering Education, Mechanical Engineering/Mechanical Engineering Technology Department Heads ◽

10.1115/imece2004-60286 ◽

2004 ◽

Author(s):

Ismail Fidan ◽

Adam McGough ◽

Jeff Foote

Keyword(s):

Rapid Prototyping ◽

Virtual Manufacturing ◽

Small Scale ◽

First Year ◽

Design Tools ◽

Golden Eagle ◽

Development Stages ◽

Formula Sae ◽

Race Car ◽

Design Competition

Formula SAE (FSAE) is a design competition organized each year by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The objective of the competition is to bring the best and brightest future engineers from each participating school to present a small scale race car. Although this sounds like a relatively simple concept, the actual execution is rather challenging and rewarding for the team. For almost three years Tennessee Tech University (TTU) has had a FSAE team. The first year was a planning year, so Tennessee Tech University has participated in the competition for the last two years. Both years have been extreme learning experiences since TTU was not prepared for the level of competition brought by participating schools. However TTU FSAE team is beginning to implement modern design tools such as FEA, Virtual Manufacturing, and Rapid Prototyping to help streamline the design efforts so that one day Golden Eagle FSAE will be one of the top competing teams. In this publication, authors will report on one Golden Eagle FSAE component (the rear upright) development stages and its accomplishments.

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Chimpanzee pant-hoots encode information about individual but not group differences

10.1101/2021.03.09.434515 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nisarg P. Desai ◽

Pawel Fedurek ◽

Katie E. Slocombe ◽

Michael L. Wilson

Keyword(s):

Regional Variation ◽

National Park ◽

Nonhuman Primates ◽

Homo Sapiens ◽

Vocal Learning ◽

Group Differences ◽

Gombe National Park ◽

Pant Hoot ◽

Community Variation ◽

Acoustic Variation

AbstractVocal learning, the ability to voluntarily modify the acoustic structure of vocalizations based on social cues, is a fundamental feature of speech in humans (Homo sapiens). While vocal learning is common in taxa such as songbirds and whales, the vocal learning capacities of nonhuman primates appear more limited. Intriguingly, evidence for vocal learning has been reported in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), for example in the form of regional variation (‘dialects’) in the ‘pant-hoot’ calls. This suggests that some capacity for vocal learning may be an ancient feature of the Pan-Homo clade. Nonetheless, reported differences have been subtle, with inter-community variation representing only a small portion of the total acoustic variation. To gain further insights into the extent of regional variation in chimpanzee vocalizations, we performed an analysis of pant-hoots from chimpanzees in the neighboring Kasekela and Mitumba communities at Gombe National Park, Tanzania, and the geographically distant Kanyawara community at Kibale National Park, Uganda. We observed group differences only among the geographically isolated communities and did not find any differences between the neighboring communities at Gombe. Furthermore, we found differences among individuals in all communities. Hence, the variation in chimpanzee pant-hoots reflected individual differences, rather than group differences. The limited evidences for vocal learning in Pan suggest that extensive vocal learning emerged in the human lineage after the divergence from Pan.

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