Mammalian vocal communication as a model for human language; from genes and brains to behaviour

我们通过口语进行交流的能力需要一套复杂的技能，这套技能建立在认知和生理过程的基础上。我的目标是发现语言相关技能的生物学基础，并了解它们如何结合起来创造复杂的社会沟通系统，即语言。蝙蝠提供了一个独特的机会来阐明这些问题，因为它们是一个具有复杂社会结构和沟通能力的非凡动物群体。它们具有与言语和语言相关的特征，如声乐学习-学习新发声的能力，这是我们学习说话的关键组成部分。然而，这一潜力很少被利用。我的目标是使用蝙蝠模型来理解社会-声音交流能力的生物编码。通过将这些发现与其他哺乳动物和人类进行比较，将有可能揭示人类语言进化的机制。具体而言，我将探索蝙蝠在社会背景下学习新发声的行为能力，并将其与其他发声学习哺乳动物（例如海豹，海豚）进行比较。我将研究神经生物学、遗传学和基因组因素对这些能力的贡献。我将整合人类语言障碍研究的发现，以确定蝙蝠和其他哺乳动物中允许这些社会-声音交流行为的机制与强调人类语言能力和进化的机制之间的相似之处。

Our ability to communicate via spoken language requires a complex skill set built upon cognitive and physiological processes. I aim to discover the biological bases of language related skills and understand how they unite to create the sophisticated social communication system that is language. Bats present a unique opportunity to shed light on these issues because they are an extraordinary group of animals with intricate social structures and communication abilities. They feature speech and language relevant traits such as vocal learning - the ability to learn new vocalisations, a crucial component of how we learn to speak. However this potential has rarely been exploited. My goal is to use bat models to understand the biological encoding of social-vocal communication abilities. By comparing these findings with other mammals and with humans, it will be possible to shed light on mechanisms by which human language evolved.Specifically, I will explore the behavioural abilities that bats have to learn new vocalisations in a social context, and compare this with other vocal learning mammals (e.g. seals, dolphins). I will investigate the neurobiological, genetic, and genomic factors contributing to these abilities. And I will integrate findings from human language disorder studies to identify parallels between the mechanisms that allow these social-vocal communicative behaviours in bats and other mammals, to those that underscore human language abilities and evolution.