Chick-a-dee call syntax, social context, and season affect vocal responses of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis)

Clucas, Barbara; Freeberg, Todd M.; Lucas, Jeffrey R.

doi:10.1007/s00265-004-0847-9

Cited by 53 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Said differently, the ability to process recursive structure revealed through operant conditioning may reflect an opportunistic assembly of available cognitive mechanisms that serve other functions in starlings (see Hauser et al, this issue). Although there has been some discussion of the role of syntactic rules in structuring bird song in chickadees and wrens (Clucas, Freeberg, & Lucas, 2004;Hailman & Ficken, 1986;Holland, Dabelsteen, & Paris, 2000), the existence of complex patterning rules in songbird vocalizations has not received adequate attention. Nonetheless, there is no strong evidence to support the notion that songbirds (or any nonhuman species) use syntax to vary the semantic content of vocal signals in the combinatorial manner common among humans.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of Temporal Auditory Pattern Recognition in Songbirds

Gentner

2007

Language Learning and Development

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of Temporal Auditory Pattern Recognition in Songbirds

Gentner

2007

Language Learning and Development

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“…In some birds and primates, higher order combinations or the presence of particular elements elicit different responses from receivers and thus appear to affect signal meaning ͑Freeberg and Lucas, 2002; Clucas et al, 2004;Arnold and Zuberbühler, 2006b͒. Future research on how syllables are combined and perceived may determine whether this is also the case in bats.…”

Section: Call Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syllable acoustics, temporal patterns, and call composition vary with behavioral context in Mexican free-tailed bats

Bohn

Schmidt-French

Sean

et al. 2008

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

118

124

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Recent research has shown that some bat species have rich vocal repertoires with diverse syllable acoustics. Few studies, however, have compared vocalizations across different behavioral contexts or examined the temporal emission patterns of vocalizations. In this paper, a comprehensive examination of the vocal repertoire of Mexican free-tailed bats, T. brasiliensis, is presented. Syllable acoustics and temporal emission patterns for 16 types of vocalizations including courtship song revealed three main findings. First, although in some cases syllables are unique to specific calls, other syllables are shared among different calls. Second, entire calls associated with one behavior can be embedded into more complex vocalizations used in entirely different behavioral contexts. Third, when different calls are composed of similar syllables, distinctive temporal emission patterns may facilitate call recognition. These results indicate that syllable acoustics alone do not likely provide enough information for call recognition; rather, the acoustic context and temporal emission patterns of vocalizations may affect meaning.

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“…Such combinatorial abilities may have evolved in some species to partially offset their lack of flexibility in generating acoustic variation. Many bird and some mammal species have been observed to combine vocal units to produce more complex sequences [23][24][25], which in primates has been associated with differences in 'meanings' [26][27][28][29][30]. A particularly interesting example is the Campbell's monkeys' (Cercopithecus campbelli) alarm call system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suffixation influences receivers' behaviour in non-human primates

et al. 2015

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Compared to humans, non-human primates have very little control over their vocal production. Nonetheless, some primates produce various call combinations, which may partially offset their lack of acoustic flexibility. A relevant example is male Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli), which give one call type ('Krak') to leopards, while the suffixed version of the same call stem ('Krak-oo') is given to unspecific danger. To test whether recipients attend to this suffixation pattern, we carried out a playback experiment in which we broadcast naturally and artificially modified suffixed and unsuffixed 'Krak' calls of male Campbell's monkeys to 42 wild groups of Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana diana). The two species form mixed-species groups and respond to each other's vocalizations. We analysed the vocal response of male and female Diana monkeys and overall found significantly stronger vocal responses to unsuffixed (leopard) than suffixed (unspecific danger) calls. Although the acoustic structure of the 'Krak' stem of the calls has some additional effects, subject responses were mainly determined by the presence or the absence of the suffix. This study indicates that suffixation is an evolved function in primate communication in contexts where adaptive responses are particularly important.

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Chick-a-dee call syntax, social context, and season affect vocal responses of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis)

Cited by 53 publications

References 32 publications

Mechanisms of Temporal Auditory Pattern Recognition in Songbirds

Mechanisms of Temporal Auditory Pattern Recognition in Songbirds

Syllable acoustics, temporal patterns, and call composition vary with behavioral context in Mexican free-tailed bats

Suffixation influences receivers' behaviour in non-human primates

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