02307nas a2200241 4500008004100000022001400041245009600055210006900151260001600220490000700236520154300243653002201786653001901808653002201827653002401849653001901873100002601892700002501918700002601943700002401969700001701993856005502010 2018 eng d a0340-544300aAge and social affinity effects on contact call interactions in free-ranging spider monkeys0 aAge and social affinity effects on contact call interactions in  cJan-12-20180 v723 a

Nonhuman primates’ vocal repertoire has shown little plasticity, with immatures producing adult-like acoustic structures. Yet, the use of different call types shows a degree of socially dependent flexibility during development. In several nonhuman primate species, group members exchange contact calls respecting a set of social and temporal rules that may be learned (e.g., overlap avoidance, turn-taking, social selection of interacting partners, and call type matching). Here, we study the use of contact calls in free-living adult and immature (old and young) spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). We focused our study in two contact call types of the species’ repertoire: whinnies and high-whinnies. Our results suggest that individuals in all age classes produced both call types, with immatures producing less frequently the whinny call type. Immature individuals exchanged calls less often than adults, although their contribution increased with age. Conversely, mature individuals regulated their emissions by (1) exchanging more calls with their preferred affiliative partner and (2) matching the call type, while immatures did not. Our results show that contact call usage changes during development and suggest that adult rules might be learned. We argue that call matching is a “conversational rule” that young individuals acquire with apparent call-type-dependent variations during development. Our findings support the idea that social factors influence vocal development in nonhuman primates.

10aAcoustic matching10aCall exchanges10aNew World monkeys10avocal communication10avocal learning1 aBriseno-Jaramillo, M.1 aRamos-Fernández, G.1 aPalacios-Romo, T., M.1 aSosa-López, J., R.1 aLemasson, A. uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00265-018-2615-202438nas a2200277 4500008004100000022001300041245011600054210006900170260001600239300001400255490000800269520143800277653001201715653001201727653001601739653001601755653001601771653001901787653001701806100002601823700002501849700001801874700001901892700001601911856023301927 2018 eng d a0003347200aKinship and association do not explain vocal repertoire variation among individual sperm whales or social units0 aKinship and association do not explain vocal repertoire variatio cJan-11-2018 a131 - 1400 v1453 a

Vocal learning often results in distinct dialects among individuals or groups, but the forces selecting for these phenomena remain unclear. Female sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, and their dependent offspring live in matrilineally based social units, and the units associate within sympatric clans. The clans have distinctive dialects of codas (patterns of clicks), as do, to a lesser extent, the units within clans. We examined the similarity of coda repertoires of individuals and units from the eastern Caribbean and related these to patterns of kinship and social association. Similarity in coda repertoires was not discernibly correlated with close kinship or association rates for either individuals or units (matrix correlation coefficients <0.12 for all tests using whole repertoires and data from all units). This supports the prevailing hypothesis that these vocalizations are culturally transmitted. The lack of correlation also indicates that vocal learning may occur broadly within clans, rather than preferentially from close kin or close social associates within social units, or that biases in vocal learning at lower levels of social structure are diffused by clan-level processes, such as conformity. Finally, an absence of signals of kinship in vocalization patterns suggests that a different mechanism, perhaps familiarity through repeated association, mediates kin selection among sperm whales.

10adialect10akinship10amatrilineal10asocial unit10asperm whale10avocal learning10avocalization1 aKonrad, Christine, M.1 aFrasier, Timothy, R.1 aRendell, Luke1 aWhitehead, Hal1 aGero, Shane uhttps://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003347218302811https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218302811?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218302811?httpAccept=text/plain02075nas a2200193 4500008004100000022001400041245008800055210006900143260001600212520145000228653002501678653001201703653001101715653002001726653001901746100002001765700001801785856007801803 2018 eng d a1674-550700aEffects of metronomic sounds on a self-paced tapping task in budgerigars and humans0 aEffects of metronomic sounds on a selfpaced tapping task in budg cNov-10-20183 a

The origin of rhythmic synchronisation or entrainment to a musical beat in animals have been widely discussed. Parrots are suitable animals to examine the relationship between the capability of vocal learning and spontaneous rhythmic synchronisation. In this study, budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) learned to tap (peck) two keys alternately at a self-paced rate. Then, the metronomic sounds were played in the background during test sessions while the birds were performing the key pecking task, although they were not required to synchronise tap timing with the metronome. We found modest but significant effects of the metronome rhythms on the tap timing in some subjects. We also tested humans (Homo sapiens) using almost the same method. In contrast to the birds, a number of human subjects synchronised tap timing to the onset of the metronome without verbal or documented instructions. However, we failed to find an effect of the metronome on self-paced tap timing in some human subjects, although they were capable of rhythmic synchronisation. This is the first report describing the effects of metronomic sounds on self-paced tapping in non-human vocal learners. This study introduces a new method that can be used in future research comparing birds that differ in vocal learning capacities, social structure, age, sex, hormonal status, and so on as part of examinations of the evolutionary foundations of beat processing.

10aoperant conditioning10aparrots10arhythm10asynchronisation10avocal learning1 aSeki, Yoshimasa1 aTomyta, Kenta uhttps://academic.oup.com/cz/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cz/zoy075/5126939