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这项研究和另一个项目(Z01 HD001123-11)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。新的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声音对刺激的反应来衡量的知觉偏好。主要由成年雌性松鼠猴子Chuck发出的近距离联系发声，根据声音对听者的熟悉程度(由于单个发声器Chuck的声学细节)进行了反应性测试。两组受试者均为实验对象。两者都有幼年和成年雌性。未成年的雌性(2岁以下)从来不会对回放刺激做出声音反应。成年雌性对熟悉的群体成员的食物反应不同，这证实了去年进行的一项研究。对熟悉的卡盘刺激进行数字处理(通过有选择地移除卡盘的部分或改变整个频率范围)显示，响应者更喜欢完整的卡盘。这表明，整个Chuck的声学结构是雌性松鼠在自然对话交流中使用的感知单位。

This and a companion project (Z01 HD001123-11) 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 focused on the perceptual side of auditory communication, using playback techniques to examine perceptual preferences as measured by vocally responding to the stimulus. 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 acoustic details of the chucks of individual vocalizers) to the listener. Two experimental groups were used. Both had juvenile as well as adult females. Juvenile females (under 2 years of age) never vocally responded to a playback stimulus. Adult females responded differentially to the chucks of familiar group members, confirming a study conducted last year. Digital manipulation of the familiar chuck stimuli (by selectively removing parts of the chuck or changing overall frequency range) showed that responders prefer the intact chuck. This suggests that the acoustic structure of the entire chuck is the perceptual unit used by squirrel monkey females in their natural conversational communication.