communication and language Flashcards
(21 cards)
loose definition of communication
- the passing of a signal that has evolved for a specific purpose
- status, quality, alarm, location
what is counted as human behaviour learned in animals
- language
- tool use
what are the different communication channels
- visual
- auditory
- odour
- tactile
food location in bees
- Bees go to flowers with other bees on them.
- One step beyond this, bees learn about the colour
of flowers other bees have visited
signalling quantity in chickadees
- Varied alarm call of Black-capped chickadee.
- More dee-dee notes for smaller predators who are
more dangerous - Functional relevance:
In playback experiments
receivers behave differently
given length of call
response to calls in vervet monkeys
- hide in tree
- look up and then hide in a bush
- be vigilant and then mob
sexual selection
- Darwin (1871) Evolution of bulky or conspicuous ornaments, which natural
selection should select against. - More formally: “The differential ability of individuals of different genetic types to
acquire mates.” - Generates differences in appearance between males and females – sexual
dimorphism
intra-sexual competition examples
Fighting is costly and can be avoided if you
communicate your strength
* Red deer roar in a stand- off.
* Roaring requires great strength and energy
* So “roaring-stamina” is an honest signal
mate choice - handicap principle
Only males in good condition
are capable of performing
costly displays. Therefore
display is an indicator of
current physical conditions
mate choice - physical constraints
There might be a direct
relationship between a
characteristic of the male and
the signal. E.g. pitch of a call
related to size of vocal cords,
and size of animal
summarise communication
- Communication is not the same as information. We
think of communication as something that has evolved
specifically. - As part of group living, we can look for what functional
relevance a signal has. - The idea that in sexual selection we often look for
honest signals between males, or between male and
female
simple communication systems: auditory
- Female crickets respond to species
specific songs. - The song is used to identify and localise.
- Cricket ‘ears’ have an eardrum which
sound can reach by two routes. - The length of the ‘tube’ is tuned to the
species-specific frequency (5kHz 7cm
wavelength)
simple communication systems: odour
- Honeybees have rich pheromone based
communication - Specialised odor receptors and microglomeruli
tuned to important pheromones - Drones and queens need less specificity
human language
- Language has syntax and semantics.
– Rules that oversee word order to provide meaning. - Language is capable of recursive logic:
– “I know that he likes cars”
– “He knows that I know that he likes cars” - Therefore it is open ended and generative
- Language is universal.
– Any human can learn any language during infancy - Language learning is innate and doesn’t require
specific and focused training
– Unlike reading and writing (only 50,000 years old)
what does language need (2 things)
- cognitive
- ability to learn lots of words
- ability to plan and organise thoughts
- vocal imitation - physiological
- ability to produce sounds
- ability to control breathing
necessary neural architecture for language
- ~2mya brain size starts to deviate from prediction based on body size
- Neurons that fire when an animal performs or observes an action. In
monkeys this is the homologous area to
Broca’s area - Prefrontal cortex to neocortex
ratio higher in humans
* Prefrontal cortex important for
planning and decision making
- Prefrontal cortex to neocortex
- Broca - production of speech
- Wernicke - perception of speech
Broca
production of speech
Wernicke
perception of speech
necessary physiology for language
- For control of intonation, air pressure to trachea must be
constant regardless of how full lungs are – this uses
thorax and abdomen - Thoracic vertebral canal is larger in modern humans (and
Neanderthals) than primates and early hominids
(McLarnon and Hewitt, 1999) - Similarly hypoglossal nerve canal is enlarged for control
of complex tongue articulation. - Descended larynx
can chimps learn language? (3 case studies)
- Washoe
Taught ASL
Proven use of 100 signs
“Water bird” for swan - Lana
Taught a symbolic language
Learnt chains of commands:
“Please machine give apple” - Nim Chimsky
Taught ASL
Proven use of 125 signs
Many utterances just imitation
alex the parrot (lang)
- Alex had a vocabulary of 100 words
- Could count to 6
- Understood concepts (larger,
smaller etc.) - Understood object categories
- Lots of anecdotal accounts:
– Errors presented as boredom
– First animal to ask a question
