Functionally referential signals: A promising paradigm whose time has passed

Evolutionary Anthropology

Volumn 21, Issue 5, 2012, Pages 195-205

  Wheeler, Brandon C ^a   Fischer, Julia ^b  

^a STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ANIMAL; ANIMAL COMMUNICATION; ARTICLE; BEE; BIOLOGICAL MODEL; CERCOPITHECUS; COGNITION; DECISION MAKING; EAGLE; HUMAN; LANGUAGE; PRIMATE; VOCALIZATION;

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION; ANIMALS; BEES; CERCOPITHECUS AETHIOPS; COGNITION; DECISION MAKING; EAGLES; HUMANS; LANGUAGE; MODELS, BIOLOGICAL; PRIMATES; VOCALIZATION, ANIMAL;

EID: 84867668473     PISSN: 10601538     EISSN: 15206505     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/evan.21319     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. Marler P, Kavanaugh JF, Cutting JE. 1975. On the origin of speech from animal sounds: the role of speech in language. Cambridge: MIT Press. p 11-37.
2. Fedurek P, Slocombe KE. 2011. Primate vocal communication: a useful tool for understanding human speech and language evolution? Hum Biol 83: 153-173.
3. Evans CS, Marler P. 1995. Language and animal communication: parallels and contrasts. In: Roitblat H, Meyer J, editors. Comparative approaches to cognitive science. Cambridge: MIT Press. p 341-382.
4. Zuberbühler K. 2003. Referential signaling in non-human primates: cognitive precursors and limitations for the evolution of language. Adv Stud Behav 33: 265-307.
5. Hauser M, Chomsky N, Fitch W. 2002. The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science 298: 1569-1579.
6. Macedonia JM, Evans CS. 1993. Variation among mammalian alarm call systems and the problem of meaning in animal signals. Ethology 93: 177-197.
7. Evans CS. 1997. Referential signals. In: Owens DH, Beecher MD, Thompson NS, editors. Perspectives in ethology. New York: Plenum Press. p 99-143.
8. Struhsaker TT. 1967. Auditory communication among vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). In: Altmann S, editor. Social communication among primates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p 281-324.
9. Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P. 1980. Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 210: 801-803.
10. Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P. 1980. Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Anim Behav 28: 1070-1094.
11. Blumstein DT. 2007. The evolution, function, and meaning of marmot alarm communication. Adv Stud Behav 37: 371-401.
12. Smith WJ. 1977. The behavior of communicating: an ethological approach. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
13. Rendall D, Owren MJ, Ryan MJ. 2009. What do animal signals mean? Anim Behav 78: 233-240.
14. Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Bergman T, et al. 2010. The central importance of information in studies of animal communication. Anim Behav 80: 3-8.
15. Scarantino A. 2010. Animal communication between information and influence. Anim Behav 79: e1-e5.
16. Scott-Phillips T. 2008. Defining biological communication. J Evol Biol 21: 387-395.
17. Carazo P, Font E. 2010. Putting information back into biological communication. J Evol Biol 23: 661-669.
18. Fischer J. 2011. Where is the information in animal communication? In: Menzel R, Fischer J, editors. Animal thinking: contemporary issues in comparative cognition. Cambridge: MIT Press. p 151-161.
19. Lyons J. 1977. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20. Deacon TW. 1997. The symbolic species: the coevolution of language and the brain. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.
21. Fitch WT. 2010. The evolution of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22. Saussure F. 1916. Course in general linguistics, trans. London: Peter Owen.
23. Chandler D. 2007. Semiotics: the basics. London: Routledge.
24. Jürgens U. 1992. On the neurobiology of vocal communication. In: Papoušek H, Jürgens U, Papoušek M, editors. Nonverbal vocal communication, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 31-42.
25. Ploog DW. 1992. The evolution of vocal communication. In: Papoušek H, Jürgens U, Papoušek M, editors. Nonverbal vocal communication: comparative and developmental approaches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 6-30.
26. Winter P, Handley P, Ploog D, et al. 1973. Ontogeny of squirrel monkey calls under normal conditions and under acoustic isolation. Behaviour 47: 230-239.
27. Lieberman P. 1994. Human language and human uniqueness. Lang Commun 14: 87-95.
28. Deacon TW. 1989. The neural circuitry underlying primate calls and human language. Hum Evol 4: 367-401.
29. Jürgens U. 2009. The neural control of vocalization in mammals: a review. J Voice 23: 1-10.
30. Owren MJ, Rendall D. 2001. Sound on the rebound: bringing form and function back to the forefront in understanding nonhuman primate vocal signaling. Evol Anthropol 10: 58-71.
31. Marler P, Evans CS, Hauser MD. 1992. Animal signals: motivational, referential, or both? In: Papoušek H, Jürgens U, Papoušek M, editors. Nonverbal vocal communication: comparative and developmental approaches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 66-86.
32. Slocombe KE, Zuberbühler K. 2005. Functionally referential communication in a chimpanzee. Curr Biol 15: 1779-1784.
33. Clay Z, Smith CL, Blumstein DT. 2012. Food-associated vocalizations in mammals and birds: what do these calls really mean? Anim Behav 83: 323-330.
34. Fichtel C, Kappeler P. 2002. Anti-predator behavior of group-living Malagasy primates: mixed evidence for a referential alarm call system. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 51: 262-275.
35. Wheeler BC. 2010. Production and perception of situationally variable alarm calls in wild tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella nigritus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64: 989-1000.
36. Arnold K, Zuberbühler K. 2012. Call combinations in monkeys: compositional or idiomatic expressions? Brain Lang 120: 303-309.
37. Templeton CN, Greene E, Davis K. 2005. Allometry of alarm calls: black-capped chickadees encode information about predator size. Science 308: 1934-1937.
38. Blumstein DT. 1999. The evolution of functionally referential alarm communication: multiple adaptations, multiple constraints. Evol Comm 3: 135-147.
39. Fischer J. 1998. Barbary macaques categorize shrill barks into two call types. Anim Behav 55: 799-807.
40. Fischer J, Hammerschmidt K. 2001. Functional referents and acoustic similarity revisited: the case of Barbary macaque alarm calls. Anim Cogn 4: 29-35.
41. Zuberbühler K. 2005. The phylogenetic roots of language: evidence from primate communication and cognition. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 14: 126-130.
42. Hammerschmidt K, Fischer J. 2008. Constraints in primate vocal production. In: Griebel U, Oller K, editors. The evolution of communicative creativity: from fixed signals to contextual flexibility. Cambridge: MIT Press. p 93-119.
43. Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL. 1986. Vocal development in vervet monkeys. Anim Behav 34: 1640-1658.
44. Stephan C, Zuberbühler K. 2008. Predation increases acoustic complexity in primate alarm calls. Biol Lett 4: 641-644.
45. Owren MJ, Dieter JA, Seyfarth RM, et al. 1992. Evidence of limited modification in the vocalization of cross-fostered rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and Japanese (M. fuscata) macaques. In: Nishida T, McGrew W, Marler P, Pickford M, de Waal F, editors. Human origins. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. p 257-270.
46. Geissmann T, Nijman V. 2006. Calling in wild silvery gibbons (Hylobates moloch) in Java (Indonesia): behavior, phylogeny, and conservation. Am J Primatol 68: 1-19.
47. Thinh VN, Hallam C, Roos C, et al. 2011. Concordance between vocal and genetic diversity in crested gibbons. BMC Evol Biol 11: 36.
48. Meyer D, Hodges JK, Rinaldi D, et al. 2012. Acoustic structure of male loud-calls support molecular phylogeny of Sumatran and Javanese leaf monkeys (genus Presbytis). BMC Evol Biol 12: 16.
49. Cavalli-Sforza LL, Feldman MW. 2003. The application of molecular genetic approaches to the study of human evolution. Nat Genet 33: 266-275.
50. Sperber D, Wilson D. 1986. Relevance: communication and cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.
51. Grice HP. 1957. Meaning. Philol Review 66: 377-388.
52. Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL. 2003. Signalers and receivers in animal communication. Ann Rev Psychol 54: 145-173.
53. Fischer J. 2008. Transmission of acquired information in nonhuman primates. In: Byrne JH, editor. Learning and memory: a comprehensive reference. Oxford: Elsevier. p 299-313.
54. Crockford C, Wittig RM, Mundry R, et al. 2011. Wild chimpanzees inform ignorant group members of danger. Curr Biol 22: 142-146.
55. Mateo JM. 2010. Alarm calls elicit predator-specific physiological responses. Biol Lett 6: 623-625
56. Slocombe KE, Zuberbühler K. 2006. Food-associated calls in chimpanzees: responses to food types or food preferences? Anim Behav 72: 989-999.
57. Penn DC, Povinelli DJ. 2007. On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a "theory of mind". Philos Trans R Soc London B Biol Sci 362: 731.
58. Wich SA, Krützen M, Lameira AR, et al. 2012. Call cultures in orang-utans? PLoS ONE 7: e36180.
59. Wich SA, Swartz KB, Hardus ME, et al. 2009. A case of spontaneous acquisition of a human sound by an orangutan. Primates 50: 56-64.
60. Herzog M, Hopf S. 1984. Behavioral responses to species-specific warning calls in infant squirrel monkeys reared in social isolation. Am J Primatol 7: 99-106.
61. McCowan B, Franceschini N, Vicino G. 2001. Age differences and developmental trends in alarm peep responses by squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). Am J Primatol 53: 19-31.
62. Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL. 2010. Production, usage and comprehension in animal vocalizations. Brain Lang 115: 92-100.
63. Fischer J, Cheney D, Seyfarth R. 2000. Development of infant baboons' responses to graded bark variants. Proc R Soc Lond B 267: 2317-2321.
64. McCowan B, Newman J. 2000. The role of learning in chuck call recognition by squirrel monkeys (Samiri sciureus). Behaviour 137: 279-300.
65. Kaminski J, Call J, Fischer J. 2004. Word learning in a domestic dog: evidence for "fast mapping". Science 304: 1682-1683.
66. Zuberbühler K, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM. 1999. Conceptual semantics in a nonhuman primate. J Comp Psychol 113: 33-42.
67. Evans CS, Evans L. 2007. Representational signalling in birds. Biol Lett 3: 8-11.
68. Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM. 1988. Assessment of meaning and the detection of unreliable signals by vervet monkeys. Anim Behav 36: 477-486.
69. Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM. 2007. Baboon metaphysics: the evolution of a social mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
70. Wheeler BC, Searcy WA, Christiansen MH, et al. 2011. Communication. In: Menzel R, Fischer J, editors. Animal thinking: contemporary issues in comparative cognition. Cambridge: MIT Press. p 187-205.
71. Owren MJ, Rendall D, Bachorowski JA. 2003. Nonlinguistic vocal communication. In: Maestripieri D, editor. Primate psychology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p 359-394.
72. Owren MJ, Rendall D. 1997. An affect-conditioning model of nonhuman primate vocal signaling. In: Owens DH, Beecher MD, Thompson NS, editors. Perspectives in ethology: communication. New York: Plenum Press. p 299-346.
73. Morgan C. 1894. An introduction to comparative psychology. London: Walter Scott.
74. Rescorla RA. 1988. Pavlovian conditioning: it's not what you think it is. Am Psychol 43: 151.
75. Pfefferle D, Fischer J. 2006. Sounds and size: identification of variables that reflect body size in Hamadryas baboons. Anim Behav 72: 43-51.
76. Ey E, Pfefferle D, Fischer J. 2007. Do age- and sex-related variations reliably reflect body size in non-human primate vocalizations: a review. Primates 48: 253-267.
77. Fischer J, Kitchen DM, Seyfarth RM, et al. 2004. Baboon loud calls advertise male quality: acoustic features and their relation to rank, age, and exhaustion. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56: 140-148.
78. Zuberbühler K. 2009. Survivor signals: the biology and psychology of animal alarm calling. Adv Stud Behav 40: 277-322.
79. Fichtel C, Perry S, Gros-Louis J. 2005. Alarm calls of white-faced capuchin monkeys: an acoustic analysis. Anim Behav 70: 165-176.
80. Cäsar C, Byrne R, Young RJ, et al. 2012. The alarm call system of wild black-fronted titi monkeys, Callicebus nigrifrons. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66: 653-667.
81. Mateo JM. 2007. Ecological and hormonal correlates of antipredator behavior in adult Belding's ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62: 37-49.
82. Surbeck M, Deschner T, Weltring A, et al. n.d. Social correlates of variation in urinary cortisol in wild male bonobos (Pan paniscus). Horm Behav. In press.
83. Wheeler BC. 2009. Monkeys crying wolf? Tufted capuchin monkeys use anti-predator calls to usurp resources from conspecifics. Proc R Soc Lond B 276: 3013-3018.
84. Kirchhof J, Hammerschmidt K. 2006. Functionally referential alarm calls in tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus mystax): evidence from playback experiments. Ethology 112: 346-354.
85. Wheeler BC. 2010. Decrease in alarm call response among tufted capuchin monkeys in competitive feeding contexts: possible evidence for counterdeception. Int J Primatol 31: 665-675.
86. Palombit R, Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL. 1997. The adaptive value of "friendships" to female baboons: experimental and observational evidence. Anim Behav 54: 599-614.
87. Slocombe KE, Zuberbühler K. 2007. Chimpanzees modify recruitment screams as a function of audience composition. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104: 17228-17233.
88. Barrett L. 2011. Beyond the brain: how body and environment shape animal and human minds. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
89. Levinson SC. 2000. Presumptive meanings: the theory of generalized conversational implicature. Cambridge: MIT Press.
90. Scott-Phillips TC. 2010. Animal communication: insights from linguistic pragmatics. Anim Behav 79: e1-e4.
91. Zuberbühler K. 2000. Causal cognition in a non-human primate: field playback experiments with Diana monkeys. Cognition 76: 195-207.
92. Rendall D, Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, et al. 1999. The meaning and function of grunt variants in baboons. Anim Behav 57: 583-592.
93. Fischer J. In press. Information, inference and meaning in primate vocal communication. In: Stegmann U, editor. Animal communication theory: information and influence, Cambridge: Cambridge University press.