Research project Efficient primates – A bottom-up approach to vocal communication
The relationship between primate calls and human speech has mainly been investigated based on descriptive works, i.e., by attempting to pinpoint similarities, continuities and discontinuities in the production, acoustics, perception, and learning of communicative behaviors.
A main goal of the presently proposed research program is the “reverse engineering” of just such a relationship. The “Efficient primates” project will be carried out over a period of three years, of which the first two will be spent at the German Primate Center in Göttingen, Germany; and the third will be spent at the Ape Social Mind Lab in Lyon, France.
Through these connections, the applicant will have access to audio and video data of four species of primate, including macaques, baboons, and chimpanzees. In the first phase of the project, articulatory-acoustic models of primate vocal tracts are developed; during the second, models are evaluated against vocal production behavior.
The project will deliver a principled model of vocal production in non-human primates, informed by physiology and speech acoustics.
The central hypothesis guiding this work is that, like human speech, systems of primate vocal production are underpinned by principles of communicative “efficiency” and a striving to maintain clearly distinguishable messaging for minimized production costs. Once verified, the project will thus deliver a clear behavioral continuity between primate vocalization and human spoken language.
Project members
Project managers
Axel Ekström
Postdoctor
