Primate vocalizations and the origins of human language
Chimpanzee vocalizations
We are interested in the cognitive and affective properties of animal vocalizations. In a nutshell, we believe that chimpanzee vocalizations are not purely reflections of the emotional states of the individuals producing them, but rather offer a pathway mixing affect and cognition towards the evolution of human language.
Main papers of interest
Sievers, C. & Gruber, T. (2020) Can nonhuman primate signals be arbitrarily meaningful like human words: An affective approach. Animal Behavior and Cognition, Special Issue Seyfarth, Cheney & Marler 1980, doi: 10.26451/abc.07.02.08.2020
Fröhlich, M., Sievers, C., Gruber, T.§, & van Schaik, C. P.§ (2019) Multimodal communication and language origins: integrating gestures and vocalizations. Biological Reviews, doi: 10.1111/brv.12535
Crockford, C. ‡, Gruber, T.‡ & Zuberbühler, K. (2018) Chimpanzee hoo variants differ according to context. Royal Society Open Science, 5: 172066, doi: 10.1098/rsos.172066
Sievers, C. & Gruber, T. (2016) Reference in humans and non-human primate communication: What does it take to refer? Animal Cognition, 19(4), 759-768. doi: 10.1007/s10071-016-0974-5
Gruber, T. & Zuberbühler, K. (2013) Vocal recruitment for joint travel in wild chimpanzees. PLOS ONE, 8(9): e76073. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076073
Understanding of primate vocalizations across species
We also use non-invasive methods such as functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study emotional aspects of vocal communication in non-human and human primates.
Articles d'intérêt
Debracque, C., Ceravolo, L., Clay, Z., Grandjean, D. & Gruber, T. Categorization and discrimination of human and non-human primate affective vocalizations: investigation of the frontal cortex activity through fNIRS. Imaging Neurosciences. doi: 10.1101/2022.01.29.478308
Debracque, C., Slocombe, K., Clay, Z., Grandjean, D. & Gruber, T. (2023) Human recognize affective cues in primate vocalizations: Acoustic and phylogenetic perspectives. Scientific Reports, 3, 10900. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-37558-3http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-37558-3
Gruber, T. , Debracque, C., Ceravolo, L., Igloi, K., Marin Bosch, B., Frühholz, S. & Grandjean, D. (2020). Human discrimination and categorization of emotions in voices: a functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) study. Frontiers in Neurosciences. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00570
Gruber, T. & Grandjean, D. (2017) A comparative neurological approach to the decoding of vocal emotional expressions in primate vocalisations. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 73, 182-190. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.004
