-------- Original Message --------
Nature Science Update
Monkeys link faces and sounds
Humans may have evolved a language skill from primate ancestors.
26 June 2003
HELEN R. PILCHER
Rhesus monkeys can match up sounds and facial expressions, research suggests1.
It hints that our capacity to do likewise may have evolved from our primate
ancestors.
"Some people had thought that the ability was unique to humans," says Asif
Ghazanfar of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany, who
studied the monkeys. Other animals had simply not been tested.
In captivity and the wild, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) produce a variety of
noises. "Almost all have a unique facial expression," says Ghazanfar.
Two calls tip the top 15 sounds in the rhesus repertoire. Animals in danger
make a short, sharp threatening call - eyes wide, ears flat, mouth wide open.
If times are good, they may 'coo', with lips pouting and open just a little.
Ghazanfar showed 11 adult monkeys silent side-by-side videos of threat and coo
expressions. When he played the sound of one call, the animals looked straight
at the matching face, he found. Over 65% of the monkeys got it right without
any training.
Full text
http://www.nature.com/nsu/030623/030623-8.html
References
Ghazanfar, A. A. & Logothetis, N. K. Facial expressions linked to monkey
calls. Nature, 423, 937 - 938, (2003).
http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/423937a
News in Brain and Behavioural Sciences - Issue 100 - 22nd June, 2003
http://human-nature.com/nibbs/issue100.html
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Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep/
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