A quantitative acoustic analysis of the vocal repertoire of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

Abstract

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a highly vocal New World primate species, has emerged in recent years as a promising animal model for studying brain mechanisms underlying perception, vocal production, and cognition. The present study provides a quantitative acoustic analysis of a large number of vocalizations produced by marmosets in a social environment within a captive colony. Previous classifications of the marmoset vocal repertoire were mostly based on qualitative observations. In the present study a variety of vocalizations from individually identified marmosets were sampled and multiple acoustic features of each type of vocalization were measured. Results show that marmosets have a complex vocal repertoire in captivity that consists of multiple vocalization types, including both simple calls and compound calls composed of sequences of simple calls. A detailed quantification of the vocal repertoire of the marmoset can serve as a solid basis for studying the behavioral significance of their vocalizations and is essential for carrying out studies that investigate such properties as perceptual boundaries between call types and among individual callers as well as neural coding mechanisms for vocalizations. It can also serve as the basis for evaluating abnormal vocal behaviors resulting from diseases or genetic manipulations.

Distinct Neural Activities in Premotor Cortex during Natural Vocal Behaviors in a New World Primate, the Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

“…The present study took advantages of behavioral and neural recording techniques that we have pioneered in the past two decades to study behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying perception, production, and vocal communication in marmosets, as well as the extensive knowledge that we have accumulated on the marmoset's vocal repertoire and behaviors (Miller and Wang, 2006;Pistorio et al, 2006;DiMattina and Wang, 2006;Roy et al, 2011;Agamaite et al, 2015). The animals used in this study were born and raised in a breeding colony that we have maintained at Johns University School of Medicine since 1996.…”

“…In addition, in the playback condition, prerecorded phee calls from other marmosets in our colony were used to evaluate a neuron's sensory responses. Although the acoustics of these phee calls are quantitatively different from those of the experimental subject (Miller et al, 2010b;Miller and Wren Thomas, 2012;Agamaite et al, 2015), there has been no evidence to indicate that listening to an animal's own vocalization evokes significantly different neural responses than those evoked by other marmosets' vocalizations in auditory or frontal cortex other than the differences caused by the acoustics. In some other animal species, such as songbirds, playback of the animal's own songs evokes markedly different neural responses than those evoked by other animals' songs (Margoliash and Konishi, 1985).…”

“…Marmosets have a rich vocal repertoire and maintain frequent vocal exchanges among conspecifics even in captivity (Epple, 1968;DiMattina and Wang, 2006;Miller and Wang, 2006;Agamaite et al, 2015). Studies of immediate early gene expression suggested frontal cortex activities in marmosets during vocal production (Miller et al, 2010a;Simões et al, 2010).…”

Harmonic template neurons in primate auditory cortex underlying complex sound processing

“…BFs of HTNs fall well within marmosets' hearing range. Marmosets have a rich vocalization repertoire that contains a variety of harmonic structures (33,43,44). Their vocalizations contain harmonic sounds with both high-frequency f 0 values (>2-3 kHz; e.g., "phee" and "twitter" calls) and low-frequency f 0 values (<2 kHz; covering the range of pitch; e.g., the "egg" calls, "moans," and "squeals" calls).…”

“…The marmoset is a highly vocal New World primate, and its vocal repertoire contains rich harmonic structures (33). It has recently been shown that marmosets…”