Alarm calls evoke a visual search image of a predator in birds
Alarm calls evoke a visual search image of a predator in birds
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1718884115
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发表时间：
2018-02-13
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Suzuki, Toshitaka N.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Suzuki, Toshitaka N.
人类言语的核心特征之一是，词语使听者检索相应的视觉心理图像。然而，发声是否同样在动物交流系统中唤起心理图像，令人惊讶的是未知的。日本山雀（Parus minor）只有在遇到食肉蛇时才会发出特定的警报声。在这里，我表明，简单地听到这些呼叫导致山雀变得更加视觉感知类似蛇的物体。在播放特定于蛇的警报叫声期间，山雀会接近以蛇的方式移动的木棍。然而，山雀在听到其他类型的叫声时不会对同一根棍子做出反应，或者如果棍子的运动与蛇的运动不同。因此，在检测到真实的蛇之前，山雀从蛇特有的警报叫声中检索其视觉图像，并使用该图像来搜索蛇。这项研究为非人类动物的叫声诱发视觉搜索图像提供了证据，为探索野生动物声音交流的认知基础提供了一个范例。
One of the core features of human speech is that words cause listeners to retrieve corresponding visual mental images. However, whether vocalizations similarly evoke mental images in animal communication systems is surprisingly unknown. Japanese tits (Parus minor) produce specific alarm calls when and only when encountering a predatory snake. Here, I show that simply hearing these calls causes tits to become more visually perceptive to objects resembling snakes. During playback of snake-specific alarm calls, tits approach a wooden stick being moved in a snake-like fashion. However, tits do not respond to the same stick when hearing other call types or if the stick's movement is dissimilar to that of a snake. Thus, before detecting a real snake, tits retrieve its visual image from snake-specific alarm calls and use this to search out snakes. This study provides evidence for a call-evoked visual search image in a nonhuman animal, offering a paradigm to explore the cognitive basis for animal vocal communication in the wild.