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Time-space-displaced responses in the orangutan vocal system
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Lameira, Adriano R. and Call, Josep (2018) Time-space-displaced responses in the orangutan vocal system. Science Advances, 4 (11). eaau3401. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aau3401
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau3401
Abstract
One of the defining features of language is displaced reference—the capacity to transmit information about something that is not present or about a past or future event. It is very rare in nature and has not been shown in any nonhuman primate, confounding, as such, any understanding of its precursors and evolution in the human lineage. Here, we describe a vocal phenomenon in a wild great ape with unparalleled affinities with displaced reference. When exposed to predator models, Sumatran orangutan mothers temporarily suppressed alarm calls up to 20 min until the model was out of sight. Subjects delayed their vocal responses in function of perceived danger for themselves, but four major predictions for stress-based mechanisms were not met. Conversely, vocal delay was also a function of perceived danger for another—an infant—suggesting high-order cognition. Our findings suggest that displaced reference in language is likely to have originally piggybacked on akin behaviors in an ancestral hominid.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QL Zoology |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Mammals -- Vocalization, Primates -- Behavior, Sumatran orangutan -- Behavior, Animal communication, Animal intelligence | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Science Advances | ||||||
| Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2375-2548 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 2 November 2018 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 4 | ||||||
| Number: | 11 | ||||||
| Article Number: | eaau3401 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.aau3401 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access | ||||||
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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