Summary: Researchers have discovered that lemur monkeys use specific voice calling, known as “phee-calls”, to detect and communicate with each other, a actions formerly observed only in people, dolphins, and elephants. This capability to publicly label others suggests that marmosets have advanced cognitive abilities in social conversation.
Additionally, the study discovered that marmoset people have identical vocal labels, similar to those found in human names and dialects. This finding provides fresh insights into how vocabulary and interpersonal communication evolved.
Important Information:
- Marmoset primates use “phee-calls” to name and address certain people, related to calling in people.
- The ability to publicly label others was formerly seen only in people, dolphins, and elephants.
- Marmoset households use similar vocal and good characteristics that resemble human names and dialects.
Origin: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
In a pioneering finding, scientists from Hebrew University have found that lemur monkeys use distinct voice calls, called “phee-calls”, to detect and communicate with each other. This capacity to publicly brand another has only been seen in humans, animals, and animals until now.
Naming of others is a very advanced cognitive skill observed in social species and, until lately, was known to exist only in people, animals, and elephant. Interestingly, our closest evolutionary relatives, nonhuman primates, appeared to lack this ability altogether.
In a , new study  , published today in , Science, a team of researchers from the Hebrew University, led by , Dr. David Omer from the Safra Center for Brain Sciences ( ELSC), made a groundbreaking discovery: for the first time, they found that marmoset monkeys use specific calls, called “phee-calls”, to name each other.
To uncover this, the researchers, led by graduate student Guy Oren, recorded natural conversations between pairs of marmosets, as well as interactions between monkeys and a computer system. They found that these monkeys use their “phee-calls” to address specific individuals. The Marmosets were able to identify when a call was directed at them, which was even more intriguing, and respond to it with greater precision.
Omer points out that this finding highlights the breadth of Moroccan social communication. ” These calls are not just used for self-localization, as previously thought — marmosets use these specific calls to label and address specific individuals”.
The study also found that family members in a marmoset group use similar vocal labels to address various people and use similar sound effects to code various names, resembling the use of names and dialects in humans.
This development seems to take place even among adult marmosets who are not blood related, suggesting that they learn dialect as well from other members of their family group.
The researchers think that this vocal labeling may have contributed to marmosets staying connected in their dense rainforest habitat, where visibility is frequently constrained. They can maintain their social bonds and maintain the group’s cohesion by making these calls.
Omer notes that marsets are “living in small monogamous family groups” and that they care for their young in a similar way to humans.
These similarity suggests that they faced comparable evolutionary challenges to our early pre-linguistic ancestors, which might have led them to create similar communication strategies.
This study provides fresh insights into the evolution of human language and social communication. Marmosets have complex brain mechanisms, which could be analogous to those that eventually led to the development of language in humans, because they can identify one another with specific calls.
The study opens up new avenues for further investigation into how social nonhuman primates ‘ communication abilities might have evolved and what we can learn from them.
About this news about evolutionary neuroscience research in the field of communication.
Author: Yarden Mills
Source: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Contact: Yarden Mills – Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access.
” Vocal Labeling of Other People by Nonhuman Primates” by David Omer et al. Science
Abstract
Vocal Labeling of Other People by Nonhuman Primates
Humans, dolphins, and elephants are the only known species that vocally label their conspecifics. Whether nonhuman primates have this ability is a mystery. We recorded spontaneous “phee-call” dialogues between pairs of marmoset monkeys. Marmosets use these calls to formally describe their conspecifics, according to what we have discovered.
Additionally, they respond to calls that are directed at them more frequently and correctly. Multiple monkey calls and acoustic characteristics are used by family members to label others and learn vocal patterns through an analysis of calls made by different monkeys.
These findings provide new insights into the evolution of social communication and provide a model for understanding aspects of human language.
