Respiratory Muscle Activity during Vocalization in the Squirrel Monkey

Jürgens, Uwe; Schriever, S.

doi:10.1159/000156537

Cited by 21 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…21,24,38,61,64,67,68,70 -75 Different individuals seem to develop somewhat different patterns of muscle recruitment to effect the same results in terms of air pressure, which complicates the picture. 24,55,61,71,74 Relatively little is known about muscular recruitment for breathing control during the vocalizations of nonhuman primates, but evidence mostly from electrically stimulated calls in squirrel monkeys 76 and two macaque species 77 indicates this may be very different from the patterns in humans, involving the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, with only a limited role for the intercostals.…”

Section: How Is Subglottal Air Pressure Controlled?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased breathing control: Another factor in the evolution of human language

MacLarnon¹,

Hewitt²

2004

Evolutionary Anthropology

101

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Investigation into the evolution of human language has involved evidence of many different kinds and approaches from many different disciplines. For full modern language, humans must have evolved a range of physical abilities for the production of our complex speech sounds, as well as sophisticated cognitive abilities. Human speech involves free‐flowing, intricately varied, rapid sound sequences suitable for the fast transfer of complex, highly flexible communication. Some aspects of human speech, such as our ability to manipulate the vocal tract to produce a wide range of different types of sounds that form vowels and consonants, have attracted considerable attention from those interested in the evolution of language.1, 2 However, one very important contributory skill, the human ability to attain very fine control of breathing during speech, has been neglected. Here we present evidence of the importance of breathing control to human speech, as well as evidence that our capabilities greatly exceed those of nonhuman primates. Human speech breathing demands fine neurological control of the respiratory muscles, integrated with cognitive processes and other factors. Evidence from comparison of the vertebral canals of fossil hominids and those of extant primates suggests that a major increase in thoracic innervation evolved in later hominid evolution, providing enhanced breathing control. If that is so, then earlier hominids would have had quite restricted speech patterns, whereas more recent hominids, with human‐like breath control abilities, would have been capable of faster, more varied speech sequences.

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Section: How Is Subglottal Air Pressure Controlled?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased breathing control: Another factor in the evolution of human language

MacLarnon¹,

Hewitt²

2004

Evolutionary Anthropology

101

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“…There are few detailed studies of breath control during vocalizations in nonhuman primates, apart from the extensive series of laboratory studies on respiratory muscle activity and the neural control of vocalizations in Saimiri sciureus (Jurgens, 1982(Jurgens, , 1988Kirzinger, 1982, 1984;Jurgens and Richter, 1986;Sutton and Jurgens, 1988;Jurgens and Schreiver, 1991;Kirzinger and Jurgens, 1994) and the studies on macaques (Macaca nemestrina and M. fascicularis) (West and Larson, 1993;Larson et al, 1994). These workers reported that vocalizations occurred only on exhalations and primarily involved abdominal muscles rather than intercostal muscles, which were active prior to vocalizations in the study of macaques by West and Larson (1993) and not consistently active during vocalizations in the studies of either genus.…”

Section: Evidence Of Differences In the Muscular Control Of Breathingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These workers reported that vocalizations occurred only on exhalations and primarily involved abdominal muscles rather than intercostal muscles, which were active prior to vocalizations in the study of macaques by West and Larson (1993) and not consistently active during vocalizations in the studies of either genus. Jurgens and Schreiver (1991) speculated that the intercostal muscles in S. sciureus could be involved in supporting the thorax and providing anchorage against which the abdominal muscles could act, rather than producing respiratory drive. West and Lar-son (1993) suggested that in macaques the diaphragm could have a central role during vocalizations similar to that of the intercostals in humans.…”

Section: Evidence Of Differences In the Muscular Control Of Breathing For Human Speech And Nonhuman Primate Vocalizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of human speech: The role of enhanced breathing control

MacLarnon

Hewitt

1999

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

255

126

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Many cognitive and physical features must have undergone change for the evolution of fully modern human language. One neglected aspect is the evolution of increased breathing control. Evidence presented herein shows that modern humans and Neanderthals have an expanded thoracic vertebral canal compared with australopithecines and Homo ergaster, who had canals of the same relative size as extant nonhuman primates. Based on previously published analyses, these results demonstrate that there was an increase in thoracic innervation during human evolution. Possible explanations for this increase include postural control for bipedalism, increased difficulty of parturition, respiration for endurance running, an aquatic phase, and choking avoidance. These can all be ruled out, either because of their evolutionary timing, or because they are insufficiently demanding neurologically. The remaining possible functional cause is increased control of breathing for speech. The main muscles involved in the fine control of human speech breathing are the intercostals and a set of abdominal muscles which are all thoracically innervated. Modifications to quiet breathing are essential for modern human speech, enabling the production of long phrases on single expirations punctuated with quick inspirations at meaningful linguistic breaks. Other linguistically important features affected by variation in subglottal air pressure include emphasis of particular sound units, and control of pitch and intonation. Subtle, complex muscle movements, integrated with cognitive factors, are involved. The vocalizations of nonhuman primates involve markedly less respiratory control. Without sophisticated breath control, early hominids would only have been capable of short, unmodulated utterances, like those of extant nonhuman primates. Fine respiratory control, a necessary component for fully modern language, evolved sometime between 1.6 Mya and 100,000 ya.

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Inspiratory muscle activity during bird song

1998

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The apparently continuous flow of creased from ú200 ms to on average 41 ms during bird song is in reality punctuated by brief periods of minibreaths, again for both species, but inspiratory silence during which there are short inspirations called minibreaths. To determine whether these minimuscle activity did not overlap with that of the expirabreaths are accompanied, and thus perhaps caused, tory muscles. Thus, there was no indication that the by activity in inspiratory muscles, electromyographic inspiratory muscles acted either to shorten the dura-(EMG) activity was recorded in M. scalenus in zebra tion of expiration or to reduce the expiratory effort finches and in M. scalenus and Mm. levatores costas might occur if both expiratory and inspiratory musarum in cowbirds, together with EMGs from the abcles were simultaneously active. Inspiratory and expidominal expiratory muscles, air sac pressure and traratory muscle activities were highly stereotyped durcheal airflow. EMG activity in Mm. scalenus and levaing song to the extent that together, they defined the tores costarum consistently preceded the onset of temporal pattern of the songs and song types of negative air sac pressure by Ç11 ms during both quiet individual birds. ᭧ 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Neurobiol respiration and singing in both species. The electrical 36: 441-453, 1998 activity of these two muscles was very similar.

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Respiratory Muscle Activity during Vocalization in the Squirrel Monkey

Cited by 21 publications

References 6 publications

Increased breathing control: Another factor in the evolution of human language

Increased breathing control: Another factor in the evolution of human language

The evolution of human speech: The role of enhanced breathing control

Inspiratory muscle activity during bird song

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