Genetic and Experiential Influences on the Development of Primate Vocal Behavior

这项研究和另一个项目(Z01 HD01123-10)研究了灵长类动物的听觉交流。这些研究的总体目标是从发育、神经机制、内分泌因素和社会背景等方面全面了解灵长类听觉交流。两个物种，松鼠猴和普通的绒猴，是主要的研究对象，并在适当的时候从其他物种收集额外的数据。本项目从生物声学和行为学的角度研究灵长类动物的交流，侧重于自然环境中发声的详细声学结构，以及结构差异与年龄、性别和经验差异的关系，以及社会背景和遗传背景等更广泛的因素。2000财年的新发现集中在听觉交流的知觉方面，使用回放技术来检查通过趋音性(接近声源的方向)和声音反应来衡量的知觉偏好。在两项研究中，主要由成年雌性松鼠猴子发出的近距离联系发声，？Chuck，？根据声音的熟悉度测试响应性(由于声音签名？个别发声者的卡盘质量)对听者而言。当测试不同年龄的松鼠猴子时，只有在3岁后，它们才对熟悉的查克表现出不同的反应。年轻的动物(1.5-2.0岁)表现出类似的倾向，但不那么健壮，而年轻的动物没有表现出对熟悉群体成员的任何偏爱。另一项只使用成年女性的研究发现，女性在听到群体中从属伙伴的声音时，会做出短潜伏期(4秒)的Chuck反应，对非从属伙伴的群体成员的声音反应较少，对陌生个体的声音反应明显较少。这些发现支持这样的结论，即参与Chuck交换是一种学习行为，在生命的头3-4年里逐渐完善，主要用于提供与之相关的伙伴(可能还有相关亲属)在野外的位置的声学信息。未来的研究将试图确定这种辨别能力的神经生理学基础。

This and a companion project (Z01 HD01123-10) investigate auditory communication in primates. The overall goal of these studies is to provide a comprehensive understanding of primate auditory communication in terms of development, neural mechanisms, endocrine factors, and social context. Two species, the squirrel monkey and the common marmoset, are the main subjects of study, with additional data collected from other species where appropriate. The present project studies primate communication from a bioacoustic and ethological perspective, focusing on the detailed acoustic structure of vocalizations produced in natural settings, and the relationship of structure differences to differences in age, gender and experience, as well as the broader factors of social context and genetic background. New findings in FY2000 focused on the perceptual side of auditory communication, using playback techniques to examine perceptual preferences as measured by phonotaxis (approaching the direction of the sound source) and vocal responding. In two studies, a close-range affiliative vocalization given mainly by adult female squirrel monkeys, the ?chuck,? was tested for responsiveness based on the familiarity of the sound (due to the ?vocal signature? quality of the chucks of individual vocalizers) to the listener. Squirrel monkeys of various ages when tested showed differential responding to familiar chucks only after 3 years of age. Younger animals (1.5-2.0 years of age) showed a similar, but less robust, tendency, while younger animals failed to show any preference for the chucks of familiar group members. A second study, using only adult females, found that females vocally respond with short-latency (< 4 sec) chuck responses upon hearing the chucks of affiliative partners within their group, somewhat less often to the chucks of group members who are not affiliative partners, and significantly less to the chucks of unfamiliar individuals. These findings support the conclusion that engaging in chuck exchanges is a learned behavior that is gradually perfected over the first 3-4 years of life, and is used mainly to provide acoustic information of the location of affiliative partners (and possibly related kin) in the wild. Future studies will attempt to determine the neurophysiological basis for this discriminative capability.