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Author Fischer, J.; Hammerschmidt, K.; Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.
Title Acoustic features of male baboon loud calls: influences of context, age, and individuality Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Abbreviated Journal J Acoust Soc Am
Volume 111 Issue 3 Pages 1465-1474
Keywords (up) Age Factors; Animal Communication; Animals; Individuality; Male; *Papio; *Social Environment; *Sound Spectrography; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract The acoustic structure of loud calls (“wahoos”) recorded from free-ranging male baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, was examined for differences between and within contexts, using calls given in response to predators (alarm wahoos), during male contests (contest wahoos), and when a male had become separated from the group (contact wahoos). Calls were recorded from adolescent, subadult, and adult males. In addition, male alarm calls were compared with those recorded from females. Despite their superficial acoustic similarity, the analysis revealed a number of significant differences between alarm, contest, and contact wahoos. Contest wahoos are given at a much higher rate, exhibit lower frequency characteristics, have a longer “hoo” duration, and a relatively louder “hoo” portion than alarm wahoos. Contact wahoos are acoustically similar to contest wahoos, but are given at a much lower rate. Both alarm and contest wahoos also exhibit significant differences among individuals. Some of the acoustic features that vary in relation to age and sex presumably reflect differences in body size, whereas others are possibly related to male stamina and endurance. The finding that calls serving markedly different functions constitute variants of the same general call type suggests that the vocal production in nonhuman primates is evolutionarily constrained.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA. fischer@eva.mpg.de
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0001-4966 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:11931324 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 691
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Author Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.; Bergman, T.J.
Title Primate social cognition and the origins of language Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 6 Pages 264-266
Keywords (up) Animals; *Cognition; Humans; *Language; Papio; Psychological Theory; Social Behavior; *Social Perception
Abstract Are the cognitive mechanisms underlying language unique, or can similar mechanisms be found in other domains? Recent field experiments demonstrate that baboons' knowledge of their companions' social relationships is based on discrete-valued traits (identity, rank, kinship) that are combined to create a representation of social relations that is hierarchically structured, open-ended, rule-governed, and independent of sensory modality. The mechanisms underlying language might have evolved from the social knowledge of our pre-linguistic primate ancestors.
Address Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15925802 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 343
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Author Owren, M.J.; Dieter, J.A.; Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.
Title Vocalizations of rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and Japanese (M. fuscata) macaques cross-fostered between species show evidence of only limited modification Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Developmental psychobiology Abbreviated Journal Dev Psychobiol
Volume 26 Issue 7 Pages 389-406
Keywords (up) Animals; Animals, Newborn; Behavior, Animal; Discrimination Learning; Environment; Female; *Macaca; *Macaca mulatta; Male; Sound Spectrography; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Two rhesus and two Japanese macaque infants were cross-fostered between species in order to study the effects of auditory experience on vocal development. Both the cross-fostered and normally raised control subjects were observed over the first 2 years of life and their vocalizations were tape-recorded. We classified 8053 calls by ear, placed each call in one of six acoustic categories, and calculated the rates at which different call-types were used in different social contexts. Species differences were found in the use of “coo” and “gruff” vocalizations among control subjects. Japanese macaques invariably produced coos almost exclusively. In contrast, rhesus macaques produced a mixture of coos and gruffs and showed considerable interindividual variation in the relative use of one call type or the other. Cross-fostered Japanese macaques adhered to their species-typical behavior, rarely using gruffs. Cross-fostered rhesus subjects also exhibited species-typical behavior in many contexts, but in some situations produced coos and gruffs at rates that were intermediate between those shown by normally raised animals of the two species. This outcome suggests that environmentally mediated modification of vocal behavior may have occurred, but that the resulting changes were quite limited.
Address California Regional Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0012-1630 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:8270122 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 700
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Author Bergman, T.J.; Beehner, J.C.; Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.
Title Hierarchical classification by rank and kinship in baboons Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 302 Issue 5648 Pages 1234-1236
Keywords (up) Animals; Animals, Wild; Botswana; *Cognition; Family; Female; *Hierarchy, Social; Language; *Papio/psychology; Social Dominance; Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Humans routinely classify others according to both their individual attributes, such as social status or wealth, and membership in higher order groups, such as families or castes. They also recognize that people's individual attributes may be influenced and regulated by their group affiliations. It is not known whether such rule-governed, hierarchical classifications are specific to humans or might also occur in nonlinguistic species. Here we show that baboons recognize that a dominance hierarchy can be subdivided into family groups. In playback experiments, baboons respond more strongly to call sequences mimicking dominance rank reversals between families than within families, indicating that they classify others simultaneously according to both individual rank and kinship. The selective pressures imposed by complex societies may therefore have favored cognitive skills that constitute an evolutionary precursor to some components of human cognition.
Address Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. thore@sas.upenn.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:14615544 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 689
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Author Rendall, D.; Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.
Title Proximate factors mediating “contact” calls in adult female baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) and their infants Type Journal Article
Year 2000 Publication Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol
Volume 114 Issue 1 Pages 36-46
Keywords (up) Animals; Animals, Wild; Botswana; Female; *Maternal Behavior; Motivation; Orientation; Papio/*psychology; Social Environment; Sound Spectrography; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract “Contact” calls are widespread in social mammals and birds, but the proximate factors that motivate call production and mediate their contact function remain poorly specified. Field study of chacma baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) revealed that contact barks in adult females were motivated by separation both from the group at large and from their dependent infants. A variety of social and ecological factors affect the probability of separation from either one or both. Results of simultaneous observations and a playback experiment indicate that the contact function of calling between mothers and infants was mediated by occasional maternal retrieval rather than coordinated call exchange. Mothers recognized the contact barks of their own infants and often were strongly motivated to locate them. However, mothers did not produce contact barks in reply unless they themselves were at risk of becoming separated from the group.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, USA. d.rendall@uleth.ca
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:10739310 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 695
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Author Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.; Silk, J.B.
Title The responses of female baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) to anomalous social interactions: evidence for causal reasoning? Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol
Volume 109 Issue 2 Pages 134-141
Keywords (up) Animals; Attention; Auditory Perception; *Awareness; *Concept Formation; *Dominance-Subordination; Fear; Female; Hierarchy, Social; Papio/*psychology; *Social Behavior; Social Environment; Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Baboons' (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) understanding of cause-effect relations in the context of social interactions was examined through use of a playback experiment. Under natural conditions, dominant female baboons often grunt to more subordinate mothers when interacting with their infants. Mothers occasionally respond to these grunts by uttering submissive fear barks. Subjects were played causally inconsistent call sequences in which a lower ranking female apparently grunted to a higher ranking female, and the higher ranking female apparently responded with fear barks. As a control, subjects heard a sequence made causally consistent by the inclusion of grunts from a 3rd female that was dominant to both of the others. Subjects responded significantly more strongly to the causally inconsistent sequences, suggesting that they recognized the factors that cause 1 individual to give submissive vocalizations to another.
Address Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:7758289 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 348
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Author Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.
Title Meaning and mind in monkeys Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Scientific American Abbreviated Journal Sci Am
Volume 267 Issue 6 Pages 122-128
Keywords (up) Animals; Behavior, Animal; Female; *Haplorhini; Male; Speech; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract
Address University of Pennsylvania
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0036-8733 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:1439710 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 701
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Author Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.
Title What are big brains for? Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 99 Issue 7 Pages 4141-4142
Keywords (up) Animals; Brain/*anatomy & histology; *Intelligence; Learning; Primates/*anatomy & histology/*psychology; Social Behavior
Abstract
Address Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0027-8424 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:11929989 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 692
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Author Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.
Title The representation of social relations by monkeys Type Journal Article
Year 1990 Publication Cognition Abbreviated Journal Cognition
Volume 37 Issue 1-2 Pages 167-196
Keywords (up) Animals; Cercopithecus aethiops/*psychology; Concept Formation; *Dominance-Subordination; Female; Macaca fascicularis/*psychology; Male; *Social Behavior; *Social Environment
Abstract Monkeys recognize the social relations that exist among others in their group. They know who associates with whom, for example, and other animals' relative dominance ranks. In addition, monkeys appear to compare types of social relations and make same/different judgments about them. In captivity, longtailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) trained to recognize the relation between one adult female and her offspring can identify the same relation among other mother-offspring pairs, and distinguish this relation from bonds between individuals who are related in a different way. In the wild, if a vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) has seen a fight between a member of its own family and a member of Family X, this increases the likelihood that it will act aggressively toward another member of Family X. Vervets act as if they recognize some similarity between their own close associates and the close associates of others. To make such comparisons the monkeys must have some way of representing the properties of social relationships. We discuss the adaptive value of such representations, the information they contain, their structure, and their limitations.
Address Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0010-0277 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:2269006 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 702
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Author Owren, M.J.; Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.
Title The acoustic features of vowel-like grunt calls in chacma baboons (Papio cyncephalus ursinus): implications for production processes and functions Type Journal Article
Year 1997 Publication The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Abbreviated Journal J Acoust Soc Am
Volume 101 Issue 5 Pt 1 Pages 2951-2963
Keywords (up) Animals; Female; *Papio; Sound Spectrography; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract The acoustic features of 216 baboon grunts were investigated through analysis of field-recorded calls produced by identified females in known contexts. Analyses addressed two distinct questions: whether the acoustic features of these tonal sounds could be characterized using a source-filter approach and whether the acoustic features of grunts varied by individual caller and social context. Converging evidence indicated that grunts were produced through a combination of periodic laryngeal vibration and a stable vocal tract filter. Their acoustic properties closely resembled those of prototypical human vowel sounds. In general, variation in the acoustic features of the grunts was more strongly related to caller identity than to the social contexts of calling. However, two acoustic parameters, second formant frequency and overall spectral tilt, did vary consistently depending on whether the caller was interacting with an infant or participating in a group move. Nonetheless, in accordance with the general view that identity cueing is a compelling function in animal communication, it can be concluded that much of the observed variability in grunt acoustics is likely to be related to this aspect of signaling. Further, cues related to vocal tract filtering appear particularly likely to play an important role in identifying individual calling animals.
Address Department of Psychology, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA. michael.owren@reed.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0001-4966 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:9165741 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 698
Permanent link to this record