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PubMed1991

Relative salience of species maternal calls in neonatal gallinaceous birds: a direct comparison of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) and domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus).

Differential-approach tendencies of individual incubator-hatched chickens and Japanese quail were assayed using one exemplar of each of the species maternal calls in a simultaneous-choice paradigm. Within 24 hr after hatching, the birds received several short periods of exposure to rotating mounts of an adult female chicken and quail, which emitted the species-appropriate call. All birds were then tested with calls alone over the following 2 to 4 days. The test stimuli were played from speakers located behind pressure-sensitive panels so that approach behavior was recorded when a bird pushed against one of the panels. Both the chickens and the quail, as groups, spent significantly more time attempting to approach the exemplar of their own species maternal call, although there was considerable variation in the magnitude of the approach difference among individuals within each species. Sources of variation in preference scores are analyzed, and a simulation is used to interpret individual differences in response scores. This type of preference test is useful for a number of applications, notably for studying the behavior of quail-chick nervous system chimeras.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1991

Perception of distance calls by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) and zebra finches (Poephila guttata): assessing species-specific advantages.

Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) and zebra finches (Poephila guttata) share a common functional class of vocalizations called distance calls. The perception of species-specific distance calls by both species was measured with a habituation-dishabituation operant paradigm. Changes in discrimination performance were noted as listening conditions were modified or stimulus properties were altered. Both species showed better performance for calls of their own species. For zebra finches this tendency increased slightly when a background noise was added to the testing environment. Shifting the frequency region of the calls affected the discrimination performance of male budgerigars but not females or zebra finches. Reversing the temporal order of the calls affected the perceptual advantage for conspecific vocalizations in zebra finches but not in budgerigars. These results highlight species differences in perceiving acoustic communication signals.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Sound localization in small birds: absolute localization in azimuth.

Nine small birds of 3 species (Melopsittacus undulatus, Serinus canarius, and Poephila guttata) were trained in an operant procedure to fly to sound sources for food reward. The angle between the 2 sound sources was varied on a session-by-session basis, and threshold (i.e., minimum resolvable angle) was taken as the angle that corresponded to a performance level of 75% correct. In all, thresholds were calculated for pure tones of 5 different frequencies, noise bands of 3 different spectral compositions, and species-specific contact or distance calls recorded from each of the 3 species. Thresholds for both simple and complex stimuli were larger than 25 degrees. There were statistically significant species differences for each stimulus set, but these differences were not correlated with species differences in head size. Birds with 1 ear plugged performed as well as binaural birds in this task. Birds deafened in 1 ear, however, performed at chance.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Auditory perception of conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations in birds: evidence for special processes.

Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), canaries (Serinus canaria), and zebra finches (Poephila guttata castanotis) were tested for their ability to discriminate among distance calls of each species. For comparison, starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were tested on the same sounds. Response latencies to detect a change in a repeating background of sound were taken as a measure of the perceptual similarity among calls. All 4 species showed clear evidence of 3 perceptual categories corresponding to the calls of the 3 species. Also, budgerigars, canaries, and zebra finches showed an enhanced ability to discriminate among calls of their own species over the calls of the others. Starlings discriminated more efficiently among canary calls than among budgerigar or zebra finch calls. The results show species differences in discrimination of species-specific acoustic communication signals and provide insight into the nature of specialized perceptual processes.

Animal Communication↗
PubMed1992

Ontogeny of chick responses to maternal food calls in the Burmese red junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus).

Burmese red junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus) chicks were reinforced at 5 days old with a mealworm at the end of a runaway in the presence of a maternal food call. Two food calls were used, one made to a highly preferred food item (a mealworm) and one made to a less preferred food item (chick crumbs). Chicks initially approached the food call made to the mealworm faster regardless of reinforcement contingencies, but by the 3rd day of training chicks responded faster to the call that was reinforced. These results indicate that functional experience can modify preexisting response tendencies to food-calling stimuli. We discuss the implications of these results for the interpretation of published accounts that chickens use food calls deceptively.

Aging↗
PubMed1992

Differential sensitivity of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) and humans (Homo sapiens) to peak position along a synthetic coo call continuum.

Difference limens (DLs) for changes in the temporal position of a pitch peak along a synthetic early-high to late-high coo continuum were measured in 2 Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) and 2 humans (Homo sapiens) in a low-uncertainty, repeating standard discrimination procedure. Lowest DLs (19-32 ms for monkeys; less than 10 ms for humans) occurred near the endpoints of the continuum. Highest DLs (59-73 ms for monkeys; 25-27 ms for humans) occurred near the center of the continuum. DLs for both monkeys and humans corresponded to previously reported measures of temporal resolution. Neither monkeys nor humans exhibited categorical perception of the coo continuum, with a central area of enhanced sensitivity, a result previously reported by May, Moody, and Stebbins (1989) for similar stimuli. We conclude that our subjects discriminated variation in coo peak position by using general psychoacoustic mechanisms related to temporal discrimination.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Relation between food preference and food-elicited vocalizations in golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia).

We report the results of 2 studies on food-elicited vocalizations in golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia). First, we investigated the preferences of 10 golden lion tamarins for 6 foods. Tamarins prefer mealworms and raisins significantly more than apple, egg, carrot, or marmoset diet. Food preference rank was significantly and positively correlated with the rank of latency to choose a particular food. Second, we investigated the relation between food preference and 15 vocal parameters measured from the calls emitted by 5 tamarins to a subset of the foods. Only 1 parameter was significantly correlated with food preference across animals. Within-subjects multivariate analysis of variance showed that the vocalizations to foods are significantly different. Our results support an hypothesis that food-elicited vocalizations vary in ways that correspond to the caller's preference but not in a manner that labels food type.

Affect↗
PubMed1992

Sex differences in the incidence and sonographic characteristics of antipredator ultrasonic cries in the laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus).

Long-Evans rats (Rattus norvegicus; ns = 10 males and 10 females) in a burrow system responded to a cat in the open area by retreating to a burrow and emitting ultrasounds of 18-27 kHz. Females made more frequent ultrasonic cries, with longer durations of ultrasounds. In a 2nd study (ns = 19 males and 19 females), sonographic analyses confirmed the more frequent vocalizations of females and indicated that the sound pulses of females were reliably shorter in duration and of higher base frequency than those of males. Also, females emitted more pulses per pulse train with shorter within-train interpulse intervals. Six basic pulse forms were determined, and males emitted more (70%) pulses with negatively accelerated descending frequencies than females (25%). The findings indicate that female rats show qualitatively different antipredator vocalizations than do males and add to previous findings of higher levels of female antipredator defensiveness.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Syllable chunking in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) song.

We examined how 61 young zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) males copied song from 5 adult tutors. Zebra finch song consists of a string of 5-15 distinct syllables, and these syllables were copied as chunks, or strings of consecutive syllables (modal length = 3). The silent interval between 2 syllables was copied as part of the syllable after the silence. Copied chunks had boundaries that fell at consistent locations within the tutor's song, marked by a relatively long intersyllable silent period, a transition between call-like and noncall-like syllables, and a tendency for the tutor male to stop his song short. Young males also tended to break their songs off at the boundaries of the chunks they had copied. Chunks appear to be an intermediate level of hierarchy in song organization and to have both perceptual (syllables were learned as part of a chunk) and motor (song delivery was broken almost exclusively at chunk boundaries) aspects.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Silhouettes elicit alarm calls from captive vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).

In Part 1, we analyzed alarm calls produced by captive vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops) in response to naturally occurring stimuli. Females and juveniles regularly alarm called to airplanes, birds, and barking dogs. Juvenile females accounted for 60% of these alarm calls. In Part 2, we isolated several monkeys from the colony and presented them with life-sized silhouettes of a leopard, snake, eagle, baboon, vervet, and goose. Adult monkeys alarm called more than did juveniles. Alarm calls were elicited by leopard, snake, baboon, and vervet silhouettes, but none were elicited by eagle or goose silhouettes. Some leopard and snake alarm calls matched those recorded in the wild in the context of the vervets' natural predators. Results indicate that silhouette stimuli are a useful technique for eliciting monkey vocalizations in the laboratory.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Spontaneous vocal mimicry and production by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): evidence for vocal learning.

Two female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and their 2 male offspring were presented with an underwater keyboard to observe how the dolphins would use such a system to obtain specific objects and activities. When a dolphin pressed visual forms on the keyboard, whistles were generated underwater, and the dolphin was given a specific object or activity. Both vocal and nonvocal behaviors were recorded. Only the males used the keyboard. In the 1st year spontaneous vocal mimicry and productive use of facsimiles of the computer-generated whistles were recorded. In the 2nd year productive use increased significantly over mimicry, and apparent combinations of discreet whistle facsimiles in behaviorally appropriate contexts were observed. The patterns of vocal mimicry and production suggest a new model for analyzing dolphin vocalizations and vocal development with respect to signal structure and organization.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Ultrasounds during agonistic interactions between female rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Defensive and vocal behaviors of 18 female Long-Evans rats (Rattus norvegicus) in encounters with aggressive, lactating conspecifics were examined in order to determine if female rats emit ultrasounds during agonistic interactions and to characterize any such calls. The subjects, selected during estrus or diestrus, were exposed to 1-min attacks at 25-min intervals. Between attacks the subjects were threatened by the aggressor but protected by a wire-mesh cage. Female rats emitted both high- (32-60 kHz) and low-frequency (20-32 kHz) ultrasonic calls in agonistic encounters, with the rate of high-frequency calls enhanced during estrus. Low-frequency ultrasounds were shorter in duration and higher in frequency than those emitted by male rats in similar conditions. We conclude that female rats emit ultrasonic calls during defensive responding and that the characteristics and rate of calling vary as functions of sex and gonadal hormone state.

Agonistic Behavior↗
PubMed1993

Conspecific song perception in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

Adult male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), previously trained with operant conditioning to discriminate between conspecific songs, were tested to determine their dependence on 2 properties of songs, the presence of song syllables and the temporal order of songs. The removal of song syllables disrupted discrimination performance but usually only if the stimulus was the bird's own song. All birds initially failed to identify reversed songs correctly, but males relearned discriminations with reversed songs in fewer trials than did females. The results suggest that there are 3 levels of song perception: a bird's own song, other males' songs as processed by males, and songs as processed by females. Each of these levels correlates with the known electrophysiological and neuroanatomical properties of the song system and with the natural history of song.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Vocal plasticity in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): evidence for social factors in the learning of contact calls.

Distance or contact calls of 6 unrelated adult male budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) were recorded before and during 8 weeks of social contact. The 6 birds were housed in 2 separate groups of 3 each in adjoining cages. Birds in each cage could hear but not see the birds in the neighboring cage. At the beginning of the study, none of the birds shared any contact call types. The first appearance of 1 bird's imitation of a cagemate's contact call type occurred after 1 week. Call type repertoires continued to change; some call types dropped out of the repertoires, and others were modified over time. Birds in the same cage shared the same dominant call type 8 weeks later, and the dominant call types differed between the 2 cages. Thus, budgerigars can learn calls as adults, and call type convergence is achieved through mutual vocal imitation of social companions. In the absence of social but not aural contact, vocal imitation was greatly reduced.

Animal Communication↗
PubMed1994

Perception of chirps by Sykes's monkeys (Cercopithecus albogularis) and humans (Homo sapiens).

Four Sykes's monkeys (Cercopithecus albogularis) and 4 humans (Homo sapiens) discriminated among 12 chirps presented in a repeating background paradigm. The test stimuli consisted of sets of 4 chirps recorded from Sykes's monkeys, red-tailed monkeys (C. ascanius), and small East African birds. Reaction times were submitted to a multidimensional scaling analysis. All monkey listeners perceived the bird chirps as similar to each other and distinct from the monkey calls, whereas 3 of the 4 human listeners had difficulty distinguishing the bird chirps from the monkey calls. Both human and monkey subjects tended to perceive Sykes's and red-tailed monkey calls as very similar to one another, but the degree of perceived similarity was greatest for the monkey listeners. The data suggest that the perceptual map of these calls is influenced by their biological significance in nature.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Variations in fundamental frequency peak position in Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) coo calls.

Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) produce coo calls whose use in various contexts is correlated with differences in the relative temporal position of the peak value of a call's fundamental frequency (Green, 1975). Studies have produced conflicting results about both the location of the category boundary between smooth early high and smooth late high coo subtypes and macaques' perceptual sensitivity to variations in peak position. In this study, fundamental frequency peak positions were measured in 578 coos produced by 8 captive adult female Japanese macaques in order to test whether calls with peak positions close to either of 2 hypothesized boundaries occurred at low rates. Overall, such calls were found to occur at rate equal to or higher than predicted by chance. Peak position varied more consistently between animals than by behavioral context. The results may indicate that peak position in coos does not form 2 distinct categories.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Convergence of untutored song in group-reared zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

Zebra finches develop abnormal song if they cannot interact with adult song tutors during the 1st few months after hatching. The authors investigated whether untutored juveniles would learn song from each other. The birds were isolated from adult males at 10 days of age and their songs recorded after Day 80. By the authors' measures of syllable sharing and the judgments of human listeners, the songs of untutored brothers were as similar to each other as those of birds reared together with a tutor. The songs of group untutored birds were, however, more variable, and they contained abnormal elements, as did the songs of birds reared apart from all other males. The fact that untutored brothers copied song from each other raises the possibility that juveniles might influence each other's song development, even when adult tutors are present. If this were the case, it would increase the range of social interactions that determine which songs juveniles learn.

Aging↗
PubMed1995

Modes of vocal variation in Sykes's monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis) squeals.

Acoustic and laryngographic measurements of Sykes's monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis) squeals showed that acoustic variation between exemplars was principally due to 4 underlying modes of modification: (Class I) variation in the transfer function produced by articulation, (Class II) variation in F0 produced by inflection, (Class III) variation in turbulence, and (Class IV) variation in the pattern of vibration of laryngeal tissue with large or small surface areas (polyphonic variation). These findings suggest that some modes of variation (Class I, II, and III calls) were due to phonatory and articulatory acts resembling, at a very general level, sound production mechanics used in speech. Acoustic variation in the polyphonic group (Class IV calls) is not evident in speech and was attributed to the possibility of independent and simultaneous vibrations of the vocal lip and the principal component of the vocal folds.

Animal Communication↗