Attention to elders' voice in non-human primates

The observed respect and attention to elders' speech in traditional cultures appears to have a ‘universal’ component which questions its possible biological bases. Animals present differential attention to the vocalizations of other individuals according to their characteristics but little is k...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology letters (2005) 2010-06, Vol.6 (3), p.325-328
Main Authors: Lemasson, Alban, Gandon, Enora, Hausberger, Martine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Animal Behaviour
Animal Communication
Animals
Attention
Cercopithecus - psychology
Cercopithecus campbelli
Cognitive science
Female
Intergenerational
Life Sciences
Neuroscience
Primate
Primates
Psychology
Vocal Exchange
Vocalization, Animal
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The observed respect and attention to elders' speech in traditional cultures appears to have a ‘universal’ component which questions its possible biological bases. Animals present differential attention to the vocalizations of other individuals according to their characteristics but little is known about the potential propensity to pay more attention to vocalizations of elders. On the basis of several hundreds of vocal exchanges recorded, here we show that aged female Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli), despite being significantly less ‘loquacious’ than their younger adult counterparts, elicit many more responses when calling. These findings show that attention to elders' vocal production appears in non-human primates, leading to new lines of questioning on human culture and language evolution.
ISSN:1744-9561
1744-957X
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0875