Comparative Studies of Primate Vocal Communication

在这十年里，研究揭示了人类语言的某些方面与生活在社会群体中的猴子的声音交流之间基本但有趣的相似之处。在灵长类动物对叫声和言语的绝对知觉上，在叫声和言语的某些功能上，甚至在控制和产生言语和猴子叫声的神经结构上，都有相似之处。最近的几项研究表明，也可能存在发育上的亲缘关系。例如，婴儿和青少年显然需要经验来产生和适当地上下文使用呼叫，以有效地代表他们外部环境中的物体或事件。哈罗德博士和萨拉·古祖尔斯博士的研究主题是猕猴声音交流的复杂性。在之前对两种猕猴的研究中，Gouzoules夫妇发现，声学上不同类型的招募尖叫与情况的特定特征(例如，对手的相对优势排名和攻击的严重程度)有关，似乎为盟友提供了与干预策略决策相关的信息。Gouzoules夫妇现在正在调查年轻猕猴获得交际能力的情况，以及在类似环境中使用的叫声的声学特征的物种差异问题。将收集在埃默里大学耶克斯地区灵长类研究中心大型户外围栏中饲养的三组猴子(代表三个猕猴物种)的发声和伴随的行为数据。Gouzouleses的分析发声行为发育改变的新方法使用了多变量统计技术(判别式分析)和一组24个声学测量来评估成年人、青少年和婴儿之间的差异。

In this decade, research has revealed rudimentary but intriguing similarities between certain aspects of human language and the vocal communication of monkeys living in social groups. There are parallels in categorical perception of primate calls and speech, in some of the functions of calls and words, and even in the neural structures involved in the control and production of speech and monkey calls. Several recent studies have suggested that there may be developmental affinities as well. For example, infants and juveniles apparently require experience for both production and proper contextual usage of calls that effectively represent objects or events in their external environments. Complexity in the vocal communication of macaque monkeys is the theme of research by Drs. Harold and Sarah Gouzoules. In previous work on two species of macaques, the Gouzouleses found that acoustically distinct types of recruitment screams are associated with specific features of the situation (e.g., the relative dominance rank of an opponent and the severity of the attack) and appear to provide allies with information pertinent to decisions about intervention tactics. The Gouzouleses now are investigating the acquisition of communicative competence by young macaques and the question of species differences in the acoustic features of calls used in similar contexts. Vocalizations and concomitant behavioral data will be collected on three groups of monkeys (representing three macaque species) maintained in large outdoor enclosures at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center of Emory University. The Gouzouleses' novel approach to the analysis of the developmental modification of vocal behavior employs a multivariate statistical technique (discriminant analysis) and a battery of two dozen acoustic measurements to assess differences between adults, juveniles, and infants.