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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 23, 2025

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Babbling in a vocal learning bat resembles human infant babbling.

Ahana A Fernandez^1,2, Lara S Burchardt^1,2, Martina Nagy¹

¹Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|August 20, 2021

Summary

Bat pups exhibit babbling with eight features mirroring human infant vocal development. This discovery opens avenues for cross-species research into vocal learning and its underlying mechanisms.

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Last Updated: Oct 23, 2025

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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Area of Science:

Comparative psychology
Bioacoustics
Developmental linguistics

Background:

Babbling is a key vocal production milestone in human infant speech development.
Evidence for babbling in nonhuman mammals is limited, hindering cross-species comparisons.
Vocal production learning is observed in some nonhuman mammals, suggesting potential for analogous behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate and characterize the babbling behavior of Saccopteryx bilineata (a bat species capable of vocal learning).
To compare the features of bat pup babbling with those of human infant babbling.
To explore the potential for cross-species comparisons of vocal ontogeny.

Main Methods:

Field analysis of babbling vocalizations from 20 Saccopteryx bilineata bat pups.
Observation of vocalizations during a 3-month developmental period (ontogeny).
Comparative analysis of acoustic and structural features of bat babbling against human infant babbling datasets.

Main Results:

Babbling behavior was identified and analyzed in Saccopteryx bilineata bat pups.
Bat pup babbling exhibited eight distinct features, consistent with those found in human infant babbling.
Key features such as reduplication and rhythmicity were present in both species' babbling.

Conclusions:

Babbling is not unique to human infants and occurs in at least one nonhuman mammal, Saccopteryx bilineata.
The shared features in babbling suggest convergent evolution or a conserved ancestral mechanism for vocal development.
These findings provide a foundation for future research into the cognitive, neuromolecular, and adaptive aspects of babbling across species.