Hihara Sayaka, Yamada Hiroko, Iriki Atsushi, Okanoya Kazuo
Section of Cognitive Neurobiology, Department of Maxillofacial Biology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan.
Neurosci Res. 2003 Apr;45(4):383-9. doi: 10.1016/s0168-0102(03)00011-7.
Vocal production and its usage in nonhuman primates may share common features with primitive human language. We trained two Japanese monkeys to use a rake-shaped tool to retrieve distant food. After the training, the monkeys spontaneously began vocalizing coo-calls in the tool-using context. We then trained one of the monkeys to vocalize to request food or the tool. Three independent acoustic parameters were measured and each parameter was independently analyzed across conditions using a multiple comparison test. We found that the monkey spontaneously differentiated their coo-calls to ask for either food or tool during the course of this training. This process might involve a change from emotional vocalizations into intentionally controlled ones by associating them with consciously planned tool use. We thus established a novel hypothesis about the origin of voluntary vocal control that could be approached from neurophysiological procedures.
非人类灵长类动物的发声及其使用可能与原始人类语言具有共同特征。我们训练了两只日本猴子使用耙形工具获取远处的食物。训练后，猴子们在使用工具的情境中自发地开始发出咕咕叫声。然后我们训练其中一只猴子通过发声来索要食物或工具。测量了三个独立的声学参数，并使用多重比较测试在不同条件下对每个参数进行独立分析。我们发现，在训练过程中，猴子会自发地区分它们的咕咕叫声，以索要食物或工具。这个过程可能涉及从情绪化发声转变为通过将其与有意识计划的工具使用相关联而进行有意控制的发声。因此，我们建立了一个关于自愿发声控制起源的新假设，该假设可以通过神经生理学程序来探讨。
