scholarly journals A universal framework for vocal interaction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregg Anthony Castellucci ◽  
Frank H H Guenther ◽  
Michael A. Long
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Communicative Behavior ◽  
Communicative Behaviors ◽  
Cognitive Operations

Vocal interaction is an important feature of social behavior across species, however the relation between vocal communication in humans and nonhumans remains unclear. To enable comparative investigations of this topic, we review the literature pertinent to interactive language use and identify the superset of cognitive operations involved in generating communicative behavior. We posit these functions to comprise three multistep pathways: (1) the Content Pathway, which selects the movements constituting a response, (2) the Timing Pathway, which temporally structures responses, and (3) the Affect Pathway, which modulates response parameters as a function of internal state. These processing streams form the basis of the Convergent Pathways for Interaction (CPI) Framework, which can be used to contextualize communicative behaviors across species by identifying specific behavioral and cognitive analogues.

Primate Vocal Communication and the Evolution of Speech

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
Julia Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primate ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Primate Communication ◽  
Evolution Of Speech ◽  
Primate Vocal Communication ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Shed Light

Studies of nonhuman primate communication are often motivated by the desire to shed light on the evolution of speech. In contrast to human speech, the vocal repertoires of nonhuman primates are evolutionarily highly conserved. Within species-specific constraints, calls may vary in relation to the internal state of the caller or social experience. Receivers can use signalers’ calls to predict upcoming events or behavioral dispositions. Yet nonhuman primates do not appear to express or comprehend communicative or informative intent. Signalers are sensitive to the relation between their own actions and receivers’ responses, and thus, signaling behavior can be conceived as goal directed. Receivers’ ability to integrate information from multiple sources renders the system flexible and powerful. Researchers who take a linguistic or biological perspective on nonhuman primate communication should be aware of the strengths and limitations of their approaches. Both benefit from a focus on the mechanisms that underpin signaling and responses to signals.

A feature of performed narrative: the conversational historical present

1978 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nessa Wolfson
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
The Relationship

The historical present, the use of the present tense to refer to past events, is a feature of narrative which has long been recognized. The object of this analysis is the use of the historical present tense specifically in narratives which occur in everyday conversational interactions. This usage will be referred to as the conversational historical present to distinguish it from the use of this tense in other genres such as travelogues and jokes. In the analysis of the occurrence of the conversational historical present, it was found that features of the relationship between the speaker and the audience had a strong influence. This is true not because the use of the linguistic feature itself is socially stratified, but rather because it functions as one of a set of features which appear in a specific type of narrative and is therefore governed by norms of interaction which constrain the social behavior involved in the recounting of such narratives. The fact that the use of the conversational historical present is an interactional variable in this respect has had important theoretical and methodological implications for the analysis which is reported here. The basic theoretical point is that in the study of the conversational historical present one sees a perfect example of the relationship between linguistic structure and language use.

scholarly journals Brain transcriptome sequencing and assembly of three songbird model systems for the study of social behavior

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N Balakrishnan ◽  
Motoko Mukai ◽  
Rusty A Gonser ◽  
John C Wingfield ◽  
Sarah E London ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Zonotrichia Albicollis ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Brain Transcriptome ◽  
Successful Isolation ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys Gambelii

Emberizid sparrows (emberizidae) have played a prominent role in the study of avian vocal communication and social behavior. We present here brain transcriptomes for three emberizid model systems, song sparrow Melospiza melodia, white-throated sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis, and Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii. Each of the assemblies covered fully or in part, 80% of the previously annotated protein coding genes in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, with transcript assembly N50s ranging from 2,557 to 4,072. As in previous studies, we find tissue of origin (auditory forebrain versus hypothalamus and whole brain) as a primary determinant of overall expression profile. We also demonstrate the successful isolation of RNA and RNA-sequencing from post-mortem samples from building strikes and suggest that such an approach could be useful when traditional sampling opportunities are limited. These transcriptomes will be an important resource for the study of social behavior in birds and for data driven annotation of forthcoming whole genome sequences for these and other bird species.

Learning Words by Imitating

2013 ◽  
pp. 296-326
Author(s):  
Thomas Cederborg ◽  
Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Keyword(s):  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Imitation Learning ◽  
Symbolic Language ◽  
Symbol Grounding ◽  
Verb Learning ◽  
Communicative Behaviors ◽  
Cognitive Operations ◽  
Symbol Grounding Problem ◽  
Grounding Problem ◽  
Linguistic Behavior

This chapter proposes a single imitation-learning algorithm capable of simultaneously learning linguistic as well as nonlinguistic tasks, without demonstrations being labeled. A human demonstrator responds to an environment that includes the behavior of another human, called the interactant, and the algorithm must learn to imitate this response without being told what the demonstrator was responding to (for example, the position of an object or a speech utterance of the interactant). Since there is no separate symbolic language system, the symbol grounding problem can be avoided/dissolved. The types of linguistic behavior explored are action responses, which includes verb learning but where actions are generalized to include such things as communicative behaviors or internal cognitive operations. Action responses to object positions are learnt in the same way as action responses to speech utterances of an interactant. Three experiments are used to validate the proposed algorithm.

The Role of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in the Neural Regulation of Social Behavior

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather K. Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Neural Regulation ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors ◽  
Multiple Levels

Within the central nervous system, the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin are key regulators of social behavior. While their effects can be nuanced, data suggest that they can influence behavior at multiple levels, including an individual’s personality/temperament, their social interactions in smaller groups (or one-on-one interactions), and their behavior in larger groups. At a mechanistic level, oxytocin and vasopressin help to integrate complex information—including aspects of an animal’s external and internal state—in order to shape behavioral output. Oxytocin and vasopressin help to modulate behaviors that bring animals together (i.e., cooperative behaviors) as well as behaviors that keep animals apart (i.e., competitive behaviors), with the modulatory effects often being species-, sex-, and context-dependent. While there continues to be extensive study of the function of these nonapeptides within individual brain nuclei, over the last two decades behavioral neuroendocrinologists have also made great strides in exploring their roles within larger brain networks that help to regulate social behavior. Looking forward, work on oxytocin and vasopressin will continue to shed light on how the neural regulation of social behaviors are similar, and/or dissimilar, within and between species and sexes, as well as provide insights into the neural chemistry that underlies behavioral differences in neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals.

The Application of General-Case Instruction to the Requesting Repertoires of Learners with Severe Disabilities

1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis Chadsey-Rusch ◽  
Jim Halle
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Control ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Communicative Behavior ◽  
Communicative Behaviors ◽  
Street Crossing ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
General Case Instruction ◽  
The Relationship

General-case instruction has contributed substantially to the improvement of generalized responding by learners with severe disabilities. Although these procedures have been used with success across a wide variety of behaviors (e.g., street crossing, dressing, grocery store purchasing), applications of these procedures to communicative behaviors are lacking. This paper proposes an application of the stimulus-control features of the general-case model to enhance the communicative behavior of learners with severe disabilities. Specifically, the relationship between stimulus control and the pragmatic function of requesting is elaborated. Two examples of the general-case process for specifying the range of relevant stimulus and response variations within instructional, or communicative, universes are offered.

scholarly journals Brain transcriptome sequencing and assembly of three songbird model systems for the study of social behavior

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N Balakrishnan ◽  
Motoko Mukai ◽  
Rusty A Gonser ◽  
Elaina M Tuttle ◽  
David F Clayton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Zonotrichia Albicollis ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Brain Transcriptome ◽  
Successful Isolation ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys Gambelii

Emberizid sparrows (emberizidae) have played a prominent role in the study of avian vocal communication and social behavior. We present here brain transcriptomes for three emberizid model systems, song sparrow Melospiza melodia, white-throated sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis, and Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii. Each of the assemblies covered fully or in part, 80% of the previously annotated protein coding genes in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, with transcript assembly N50s ranging from 2,557 to 4,072. As in previous studies, we find tissue of origin (auditory forebrain versus hypothalamus and whole brain) as a primary determinant of overall expression profile. We also demonstrate the successful isolation of RNA and RNA-sequencing from post-mortem samples from building strikes and suggest that such an approach could be useful when traditional sampling opportunities are limited. These transcriptomes will be an important resource for the study of social behavior in birds and for data driven annotation of forthcoming whole genome sequences for these and other bird species.

scholarly journals Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua P Neunuebel ◽  
Adam L Taylor ◽  
Ben J Arthur ◽  
SE Roian Egnor
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Microphone Array ◽  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Female Mice ◽  
Adult Mice ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Courtship Displays ◽  
Vocal Interactions ◽  
Individual Adult

During courtship males attract females with elaborate behaviors. In mice, these displays include ultrasonic vocalizations. Ultrasonic courtship vocalizations were previously attributed to the courting male, despite evidence that both sexes produce virtually indistinguishable vocalizations. Because of this similarity, and the difficulty of assigning vocalizations to individuals, the vocal contribution of each individual during courtship is unknown. To address this question, we developed a microphone array system to localize vocalizations from socially interacting, individual adult mice. With this system, we show that female mice vocally interact with males during courtship. Males and females jointly increased their vocalization rates during chases. Furthermore, a female's participation in these vocal interactions may function as a signal that indicates a state of increased receptivity. Our results reveal a novel form of vocal communication during mouse courtship, and lay the groundwork for a mechanistic dissection of communication during social behavior.

scholarly journals Oxytocin facilitates communicative adjustment by upregulating broadband aperiodic neural activity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Liu ◽  
Arjen Stolk ◽  
Miriam de Boer ◽  
Robert Oostenveld ◽  
Ivan Toni
Keyword(s):  
Intranasal Administration ◽  
Synaptic Activity ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Communicative Behavior ◽  
Communicative Behaviors ◽  
Mutual Knowledge ◽  
Cortical Circuit ◽  
The Right ◽  
To Receive

Oxytocin modulates various social behaviors. In humans, oxytocin has been shown to modulate recipient design, i.e. how communicators adjust to their presumed mutual knowledge. Here, we investigate electrophysiological correlates of the oxytocinergic modulation of recipient design. Fifty-one males were randomly assigned to receive double-blind intranasal administration of oxytocin or placebo. While acquiring magnetoencephalography, the participants engaged in a live communicative task with two different addressees, a child and an adult. Unbeknownst to the participants, a confederate played the role of both addressees, with matched communicative behaviors. All participants started the task by putting more emphasis on their communicative behaviors when they thought to be interacting with the child addressee. As the communication progressed, the oxytocin group reduced variability in their communicative adjustments, adapting more effectively than the placebo group to the matched communicative behavior of the addressees. The magnitude of this oxytocin-related dynamic communicative adjustment was proportional to increased broadband aperiodic power, an index of local synaptic activity, in the right prefrontal-temporal circuit. These findings indicate that oxytocin facilitates dynamic adjustments in recipient design by enhancing cortical signal-to-noise in a portion of the same cortical circuit known to support the production of novel communicative behaviors.

scholarly journals Brain transcriptome sequencing and assembly of three songbird model systems for the study of social behavior

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N Balakrishnan ◽  
Motoko Mukai ◽  
Rusty A Gonser ◽  
John C Wingfield ◽  
Sarah E London ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Zonotrichia Albicollis ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Brain Transcriptome ◽  
Successful Isolation ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys Gambelii

Emberizid sparrows (emberizidae) have played a prominent role in the study of avian vocal communication and social behavior. We present here brain transcriptomes for three emberizid model systems, song sparrow Melospiza melodia, white-throated sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis, and Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii. Each of the assemblies covered fully or in part, over 89% of the previously annotated protein coding genes in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, with 16,846, 15,805, and 16,646 unique BLAST hits in song, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, respectively. As in previous studies, we find tissue of origin (auditory forebrain versus hypothalamus and whole brain) as a primary determinant of overall expression profile. We also demonstrate the successful isolation of RNA and RNA-sequencing from post-mortem samples from building strikes and suggest that such an approach could be useful when traditional sampling opportunities are limited. These transcriptomes will be an important resource for the study of social behavior in birds and for data driven annotation of forthcoming whole genome sequences for these and other bird species.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document