PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Primate calls, like human speech, can help infants form categories

Research sheds light on developmental origin of early link between speech and cognition

2013-09-03
(Press-News.org) EVANSTON, Ill. --- Human infants' responses to the vocalizations of non-human primates shed light on the developmental origin of a crucial link between human language and core cognitive capacities, a new study reports.

Previous studies have shown that even in infants too young to speak, listening to human speech supports core cognitive processes, including the formation of object categories.

Alissa Ferry, lead author and currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Language, Cognition and Development Lab at the Scuola Internationale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste, Italy, together with Northwestern University colleagues, documented that this link is initially broad enough to include the vocalizations of non-human primates.

"We found that for 3- and 4-month-old infants, non-human primate vocalizations promoted object categorization, mirroring exactly the effects of human speech, but that by six months, non-human primate vocalizations no longer had this effect -- the link to cognition had been tuned specifically to human language," Ferry said.

In humans, language is the primary conduit for conveying our thoughts. The new findings document that for young infants, listening to the vocalizations of humans and non-human primates supports the fundamental cognitive process of categorization. From this broad beginning, the infant mind identifies which signals are part of their language and begins to systematically link these signals to meaning.

Furthermore, the researchers found that infants' response to non-human primate vocalizations at three and four months was not just due to the sounds' acoustic complexity, as infants who heard backward human speech segments failed to form object categories at any age.

Susan Hespos, co-author and associate professor of psychology at Northwestern said, "For me, the most stunning aspect of these findings is that an unfamiliar sound like a lemur call confers precisely the same effect as human language for 3- and 4-month-old infants. More broadly, this finding implies that the origins of the link between language and categorization cannot be derived from learning alone."

"These results reveal that the link between language and object categories, evident as early as three months, derives from a broader template that initially encompasses vocalizations of human and non-human primates and is rapidly tuned specifically to human vocalizations," said Sandra Waxman, co-author and Louis W. Menk Professor of Psychology at Northwestern.

Waxman said these new results open the door to new research questions.

"Is this link sufficiently broad to include vocalizations beyond those of our closest genealogical cousins," asks Waxman, "or is it restricted to primates, whose vocalizations may be perceptually just close enough to our own to serve as early candidates for the platform on which human language is launched?"

### "Non-human primate vocalizations support categorizations in very young human infants" published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on September 3.

NORTHWESTERN NEWS: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study estimates costs of health-care-associated infections

2013-09-03
A study estimates that total annual costs for five major health care-associated infections (HAIs) were $9.8 billion, with surgical site infections contributing the most to overall costs, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. HAIs are associated with high costs and better evaluation of the cost of these infections could help providers and payers justify investing in prevention, according to background information in the study by Eyal Zimlichman, M.D., M.Sc., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, ...

Gap in earnings persists between male and female physicians, research letter suggests

2013-09-03
A gap in earnings between male and female U.S. physicians has persisted over the last 20 years, according to a research letter by Seth A. Seabury, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and colleagues. Using nationally representative data from the March Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1987 to 2010, the researchers estimated trends in the male-female earnings gap among physicians, other health care workers, and workers overall. The sample included 1,334,894 individuals, including 6,258 physicians and 31,857 other health care professionals, and ...

Maternal posttraumatic stress disorder associated with increased risk for child maltreatment

2013-09-03
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in mothers appears to be associated with an increased risk for child maltreatment beyond that associated with maternal depression, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. The psychopathology of a caregiver is understood to be an important risk factor for child maltreatment and maternal depression is associated with an increased use of corporal punishment and physical abuse of children. Until recently, research on maternal depression and maltreatment risk has largely ignored the high rate of comorbidity ...

Following a Mediterranean diet not associated with delay to clinical onset of Huntington's disease

2013-09-03
Adhering to a Mediterranean-type diet (MedDi) does not appear associated with the time to clinical onset of Huntington disease (phenoconversion), according to a study by Karen Marder, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, N.Y., and colleagues. The Mediterranean diet, a diet high in plant foods (e.g. fruits, nuts, legumes, and cereals) and fish, with olive oil as the primary source of monounsaturated fat (MUSF) and low to moderate intake of wine, as well as low intake of red meat, poultry, and dairy products, is known to be ...

Study shows patient-centered medical home philosophy boosts patient, physician satisfaction

2013-09-03
LOS ANGELES — The common refrain about health care is that it's a broken system. A new joint program between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC), demonstrates a way to mend the system with a new patient-centered program that is getting raves from patients, as well as the residents and nurses who provide their care. Results from the program are highlighted in a study being released in September. The program, Galaxy Health, debuted at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center (LAC+USC) in 2012 with a goal of substantially ...

Penn biologists show that generosity leads to evolutionary success

2013-09-03
With new insights into the classical game theory match-up known as the "Prisoner's Dilemma," University of Pennsylvania biologists offer a mathematically based explanation for why cooperation and generosity have evolved in nature. Their work builds upon the seminal findings of economist John Nash, who advanced the field of game theory in the 1950s, as well as those of computational biologist William Press and physicist-mathematician Freeman Dyson, who last year identified a new class of strategies for succeeding in the Prisoner's Dilemma. Postdoctoral researcher Alexander ...

Soot suspect in mid-1800s Alps glacier retreat

2013-09-03
Scientists have uncovered strong evidence that soot, or black carbon, sent into the air by a rapidly industrializing Europe, likely caused the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps. The research, published Sept. 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may help resolve a longstanding scientific debate about why the Alps glaciers retreated beginning in the 1860s, decades before global temperatures started rising again. Thomas Painter, a snow and ice scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is lead author of ...

Red cedar tree study shows that Clean Air Act is reducing pollution, improving forests

2013-09-03
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A collaborative project involving a Kansas State University ecologist has shown that the Clean Air Act has helped forest systems recover from decades of sulfur pollution and acid rain. The research team -- which included Jesse Nippert, associate professor of biology -- spent four years studying centuries-old eastern red cedar trees, or Juniperus virginiana, in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. The region is downwind of the Ohio River Valley coal power plants and experienced high amounts of acidic pollution -- caused by sulfur dioxide ...

First estimate of total viruses in mammals

2013-09-03
Scientists estimate that there is a minimum of 320,000 viruses in mammals awaiting discovery. Collecting evidence of these viruses, or even a majority of them, they say, could provide information critical to early detection and mitigation of disease outbreaks in humans. This undertaking would cost approximately $6.3 billion, or $1.4 billion if limited to 85% of total viral diversity -- a fraction of the economic impact of a major pandemic like SARS. Close to 70% of emerging viral diseases such as HIV/AIDS, West Nile, Ebola, SARS, and influenza, are zoonoses -- infections ...

New research identifies a possible finite number of viruses

2013-09-03
NEW YORK – September 3, 2013 – EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, and the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health announced a new strategy to identify the total number of wildlife viruses that could potentially cause emerging disease outbreaks that threaten both public and wildlife health. Combining field investigations with a new statistical approach, scientists estimate that there may exist a minimum of 320,000 viruses awaiting discovery from ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Sulfated yeast rises to the challenge facing rare earth metals

Global analysis reveals how biochar supercharges composting and cuts greenhouse gases

Blocking a cellular switch could prevent lung-scarring disease

Planet formation depends on when it happens: UNLV model shows why

Deep sleep supports memory via brain fluid and neural rhythms

Biochar and iron additives show promise for reviving degraded peatlands and locking away carbon

Cancer cells reactivate embryo-like gene editors to fuel growth

AI analysis of world’s largest heart attack datasets opens way to new treatment strategies

Decoding dangers of Arctic sea ice with seismic, radar method

Counting bites with AI might one day help prevent childhood obesity

Utah chemists discover enzyme that could help build next-generation GLP-1 drugs

Surprising bacteria discovery links Hawaiʻi’s groundwater to the ocean

New grants for schools offer CPR training and resources to make campuses safer

30 NFL players urge fans to join Nation of Lifesavers, learn lifesaving CPR

Study finds humans outweigh climate in depleting Arizona's water supply

Old-school material could power quantum computing, cut data center energy use

Vanderbilt scientist tackles key roadblock for AI in drug discovery

Overheating bat boxes place bats in mortal danger during heatwaves

Study shows medical-legal partnerships aid recovery for patients with violent injuries

Learning the language of lasso peptides to improve peptide engineering

Social conflict among strongest predictors of teen mental health concerns

New framework can improve the planning stage of surgical quality improvement projects

Research shows anger, not fear, shifts political beliefs

Gale and Ira Drukier Prize in Children’s Health Research awarded to pediatric rheumatologist at Boston Children’s Hospital

UNF chemistry professor awarded NSF Grant to advance laser-based measurement technology

Research shows how Dust Bowl-type drought causes unprecedented productivity loss

Non-hibernating pikas' protein restriction tweaks their gut microbiome to help them survive the winter, when winter-active herbivores often struggle to find dietary protein

Not for hearing but for symbiosis

Disconnected cerebral hemisphere in epilepsy patients shows sleep-like state during wakefulness

Incentivizing risk to inspire investments in clean innovation for aviation

[Press-News.org] Primate calls, like human speech, can help infants form categories
Research sheds light on developmental origin of early link between speech and cognition