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

Monkeys 'understand' rules underlying language musicality

2013-11-13
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Andrea Ravignani
andrea.ravignani@univie.ac.at
43-142-777-6101
University of Vienna
Monkeys 'understand' rules underlying language musicality

This news release is available in German.

Many of us have mixed feelings when remembering painful lessons in German or Latin grammar in school. Languages feature a large number of complex rules and patterns: using them correctly makes the difference between something which "sounds good", and something which does not. However, cognitive biologists at the University of Vienna have shown that sensitivity to very simple structural and melodic patterns does not require much learning, or even being human: South American squirrel monkeys can do it, too.

Language and music are structured systems, featuring particular relationships between syllables, words and musical notes. For instance, implicit knowledge of the musical and grammatical patterns of our language makes us notice right away whether a speaker is native or not. Similarly, the perceived musicality of some languages results from dependency relations between vowels within a word. In Turkish, for example, the last syllable in words like "kaplanlar" or "güller" must "harmonize" with the previous vowels. (Try it yourself: "güllar" requires more movement and does not sound as good as "güller".)

Similar "dependencies" between words, syllables or musical notes can be found in languages and musical cultures around the world. The biological question is whether the ability to process dependencies evolved in human cognition along with human language, or is rather a more general skill, also present in other animal species who lack language.

Andrea Ravignani, a PhD candidate at the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna, and his colleagues looked for this "dependency detection" ability in squirrel monkeys, small arboreal primates living in Central and South America. Inspired by the monkeys' natural calls and hearing predispositions, the researchers designed a sort of "musical system" for monkeys. These "musical patterns" had overall acoustic features similar to monkeys' calls, while their structural features mimicked syntactic or phonological patterns like those found in Turkish and many human languages.

Monkeys were first presented with "phrases" containing structural dependencies, and later tested using stimuli either with or without dependencies. Their reactions were measured using the "violation of expectations" paradigm. "Show up at work in your pyjamas, people will turn around and stare at you, while at a slumber party nobody will notice", explains Ravignani: In other words, one looks longer at something that breaks the "standard" pattern. "This is not about absolute perception, rather how something is categorized and contrasted within a broader system." Using this paradigm, the scientists found that monkeys reacted more to the "ungrammatical" patterns, demonstrating perception of dependencies. "This kind of experiment is usually done by presenting monkeys with human speech: Designing species-specific, music-like stimuli may have helped the squirrel monkeys' perception", argues primatologist and co-author Ruth Sonnweber.

"Our ancestors may have already acquired this simple dependency-detection ability some 30 million years ago, and modern humans would thus share it with many other living primates. Mastering basic phonological patterns and syntactic rules is not an issue for squirrel monkeys: the bar for human uniqueness has to be raised", says Ravignani: "This is only a tiny step: we will keep working hard to unveil the evolutionary origins and potential connections between language and music".



INFORMATION:

The research was funded by an ERC Advanced Grant, SOMACCA, to Prof. Tecumseh Fitch, which is exploring the broad biological basis for music, language, and visual art.

Publication in "Biology Letters":

Ravignani A, Sonnweber R-S, Stobbe N, Fitch WT. 2013 Action at a distance: dependency sensitivity in a New World primate. Biol Lett 20130852. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0852



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

BU study finds gymnasts' face high exposure to flame retardants

2013-11-13
BU study finds gymnasts' face high exposure to flame retardants (Boston) -- Competitive gymnasts have a higher exposure to potentially harmful flame-retardants than the general population, likely because such contaminants are present in foam used in gym ...

Island biodiversity in danger of total submersion with climate change

2013-11-13
Island biodiversity in danger of total submersion with climate change Sea level rise caused by global warming can prove extremely destructive to island habitats, which hold about 20% of the world's biodiversity. Research by C. Bellard, C. Leclerc and F. Courchamp ...

Compound stymies polyomaviruses in lab tests

2013-11-13
Compound stymies polyomaviruses in lab tests A team of scientists reports that a small molecule compound showed significant success in controlling the infectivity and spread of three polyomaviruses in human cell cultures. To date there has been no medicine ...

'Missing heat' discovery prompts new estimate of global warming

2013-11-13
'Missing heat' discovery prompts new estimate of global warming An interdisciplinary team of researchers say they have found 'missing heat' in the climate system, casting doubt on suggestions that global warming has slowed or stopped over the past decade. Observational ...

Menstrual cycle influences concussion outcomes

2013-11-13
Menstrual cycle influences concussion outcomes Study may reconcile recovery differences in male, female gender How well a woman recovers from a concussion may depend on that time of the month. Researchers found that women injured during ...

Carbon dioxide's new-found signalling role could be applied to blood flow, birth and deafness

2013-11-13
Carbon dioxide's new-found signalling role could be applied to blood flow, birth and deafness New research reveals exactly how the body measures carbon dioxide and suggests that far from being a metabolic waste product, it could play a key role as a biological signalling ...

Schools help kids choose carrots over candy bars

2013-11-13
Schools help kids choose carrots over candy bars When schools adopt healthful nutrition policies and practices, kids' diets improve. According to new research led by Michigan State University and published in the current issue of Childhood Obesity, when ...

Study finds few patients with newly-diagnosed hyperlipidemia receive recommended thyroid screening

2013-11-13
Study finds few patients with newly-diagnosed hyperlipidemia receive recommended thyroid screening (Boston)--Despite current guidelines that recommend newly diagnosed high-cholesterol patients have a TSH blood test done to make sure they do not have ...

CVI puts research into practice on firearms and domestic violence

2013-11-13
CVI puts research into practice on firearms and domestic violence HUNTSVILLE, TX (11/13/13) -- The Crime Victims' Institute (CVI) at Sam Houston State University initiated a new series of reports to help victim advocates translate the latest research in the field ...

Generation length for mammals: An essential reference point for conservation studies

2013-11-13
Generation length for mammals: An essential reference point for conservation studies Life history traits are the basic ecological descriptors of a species. These include physical traits, such as body mass and physiological traits, such as reproductive rate. Ecologists ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Parents of children with health conditions less confident about a positive school year

New guideline standardizes consent for research participants in Canada

Research as reconciliation: Oil sands and health

AI risks overwriting history and the skills of historians have never been more important, leading academic outlines in new paper

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology: Higher doses of semaglutide can safely enhance weight loss and improve health for adults living with obesity, two new clinical trials confirm

Trauma focused therapy shows promise for children struggling with PTSD

School meals could drive economic growth and food system transformation

Home training for cerebellar ataxias

Dry eyes affect over half the general population, yet only a fifth receive diagnosis and treatment

Researchers sound warning about women with type 2 diabetes taking oral HRT

Overweight and obesity don’t always increase the risk of an early death, Danish study finds

Cannabis use associated with a quadrupling of risk of developing type 2 diabetes, finds study of over 4 million adults

Gestational diabetes linked to cognitive decline in mothers and increased risk of developmental delays, ADHD and autism among children

Could we use eye drops instead of reading glasses as we age?

Patients who had cataracts removed or their eyesight corrected with a new type of lens have good vision over all distances without spectacles

AI can spot which patients need treatment to prevent vision loss in young adults

Half of people stop taking popular weight-loss drug within a year, national study finds

Links between diabetes and depression are similar across Europe, study of over-50s in 18 countries finds

Smoking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of its characteristics

Scientists trace origins of now extinct plant population from volcanically active Nishinoshima

AI algorithm based on routine mammogram + age can predict women’s major cardiovascular disease risk

New hurdle seen to prostate screening: primary-care docs

MSU researchers explore how virtual sports aid mental health

Working together, cells extend their senses

Cheese fungi help unlock secrets of evolution

Researchers find brain region that fuels compulsive drinking

Mental health effects of exposure to firearm violence persist long after direct exposure

Research identifies immune response that controls Oropouche infection and prevents neurological damage

University of Cincinnati, Kent State University awarded $3M by NSF to share research resources

Ancient DNA reveals deeply complex Mastodon family and repeated migrations driven by climate change

[Press-News.org] Monkeys 'understand' rules underlying language musicality