Meaning, intention, and inference in primate vocal communication
Julia Fischer1, Tabitha Price2
1Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, German Primate Center, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
|October 25, 2016
Summary
Nonhuman primate communication, including vocalizations and gestures, is goal-directed, not referential. Signallers and receivers use signals to predict behavior, enhancing communication power without higher-order intentionality.
Area of Science:
- Primate communication
- Speech evolution
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Primate vocalizations are largely innate, linked to caller's emotional state.
- The relationship between primate signals and specific events is probabilistic and underdetermined.
- Nonhuman primates may lack communicative intent and mental state attribution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether nonhuman primate signals are referential.
- To determine the role of social cognition in primate communication.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of primate vocalizations and gestures.
- Evaluation of signaller sensitivity to receiver responses.
- Assessment of receiver use of signals for behavior prediction.
Main Results:
- Primate signals, including vocalizations and gestures, are best understood as goal-directed.
- Signallers adapt their signals based on receiver responses.
- Receivers utilize signals to anticipate signaller behavior.
Conclusions:
- Primate communication systems are powerful due to goal-directed signaling and predictive receiver behavior.
- Despite functional communication, higher-order intentionality is absent in nonhuman primate signaling.
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