784 research outputs found
Rhythm and synchrony in animal movement and communication
Animal communication and motoric behavior develop over time. Often, this temporal dimension has communicative relevance and is organized according to structural patterns. In other words, time is a crucial dimension for rhythm and synchrony in animal movement and communication. Rhythm is defined as temporal structure at a second-millisecond time scale (Kotz et al. 2018). Synchrony is defined as precise co-occurrence of 2 behaviors in time (Ravignani 2017). Rhythm, synchrony, and other forms of temporal interaction are taking center stage in animal behavior and communication. Several critical questions include, among others: what species show which rhythmic predispositions? How does a speciesâ sensitivity for, or proclivity towards, rhythm arise? What are the species-specific functions of rhythm and synchrony, and are there functional trends across species? How did similar or different rhythmic behaviors evolved in different species? This Special Column aims at collecting and contrasting research from different species, perceptual modalities, and empirical methods. The focus is on timing, rhythm and synchrony in the second-millisecond range. Three main approaches are commonly adopted to study animal rhythms, with a focus on: 1) spontaneous individual rhythm production, 2) group rhythms, or 3) synchronization experiments. I concisely introduce them below (see also Kotz et al. 2018; Ravignani et al. 2018)
Darwin, sexual selection, and the origins of music
Humans devote ample time to produce and perceive music. How and why this behavioral propensity originated in our species is unknown. For centuries, speculation dominated the study of the evolutionary origins of musicality. Following Darwinâs early intuitions, recent empirical research is opening a new chapter to tackle this mystery
Seeking shared ground in space
language; communication; extraterrestria
Timing of antisynchronous calling: A case study in a harbor seal pup (Phoca vitulina)
Alternative mathematical models predict differences in how animals adjust the timing of their calls. Differences can be measured as the effect of the timing of a conspecific call on the rate and period of calling of a focal animal, and the lag between the two. Here, I test these alternative hypotheses by tapping into harbor sealsâ (Phoca vitulina) mechanisms for spontaneous timing. Both socioecology and vocal behavior of harbor seals make them an interesting model species to study call rhythm and timing. Here, a wild-born seal pup was tested in controlled laboratory conditions. Based on previous recordings of her vocalizations and those of others, I designed playback experiments adapted to that specific animal. The call onsets of the animal were measured as a function of tempo, rhythmic regularity, and spectral properties of the playbacks. The pup adapted the timing of her calls in response to conspecificsâ calls. Rather than responding at a fixed time delay, the pup adjusted her callsâ onset to occur at a fraction of the playback tempo, showing a relative-phase antisynchrony. Experimental results were confirmed via computational modeling. This case study lends preliminary support to a classic mathematical model of animal behaviorâHamiltonâs selfish herdâin the acoustic domain
Chronometry for the chorusing herd: Hamilton's legacy on context-dependent acoustic signallingâa comment on Herbers (2013)
Biology Lettersâ special feature on Hamiltonâs legacy pays due tribute to a brilliant mind. Herbers [1] and the other contributors paint a compelling picture of how Hamiltonâs work on inclusive fitness anticipated much contemporary evolutionary thinking, although sometimes not acknowledged until much later.
A more recent, although equally cited work by Hamilton is the âGeometry for the selfish herdâ [2], an elegant mathematical description of why individuals aggregate in space. In the spirit of this special feature [1], I illustrate why Hamiltonâs herd model should be recognized as an early mathematical formal- ism applicable to unrelated, although crucial, biological phenomena. Notably, Hamiltonâs model of gregarious behaviour can be directly applied to the prob- lem of context-dependent acoustic signalling as follows, with the potential to describe how interdependent individual calls combine into choruses
Comment on âTemporal and spatial variation in harbor seal (Phoca vitulina L.) roar calls from southern Scandinaviaâ [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141, 1824-1834 (2017)]
In their recent article, Sabinsky and colleagues investigated heterogeneity in harbor seals' vocalizations. The authors found seasonal and geographical variation in acoustic parameters, warning readers that recording conditions might account for some of their results. This paper expands on the temporal aspect of the encountered heterogeneity in harbor seals' vocalizations. Temporal information is the least susceptible to variable recording conditions. Hence geographical and seasonal variability in roar timing constitutes the most robust finding in the target article. In pinnipeds, evidence of timing and rhythm in the millisecond rangeâas opposed to circadian and seasonal rhythmsâhas theoretical and interdisciplinary relevance. In fact, the study of rhythm and timing in harbor seals is particularly decisive to support or confute a cross-species hypothesis, causally linking the evolution of vocal production learning and rhythm. The results by Sabinsky and colleagues can shed light on current scientific questions beyond pinniped bioacoustics, and help formulate empirically testable predictions
The evolutionary biology of dance without frills
Recently psychologists have taken up the question of whether dance is reliant on unique human adaptations, or whether it is rooted in neural and cognitive mechanisms shared with other species 1, 2. In its full cultural complexity, human dance clearly has no direct analog in animal behavior. Most definitions of dance include the consistent production of movement sequences timed to an external rhythm. While not sufficient for dance, modes of auditory-motor timing, such as synchronization and entrainment, are experimentally tractable constructs that may be analyzed and compared between species. In an effort to assess the evolutionary precursors to entrainment and social features of human dance, Laland and colleagues [2] have suggested that dance may be an incidental byproduct of adaptations supporting vocal or motor imitation â referred to here as the âimitation and sequencingâ hypothesis. In support of this hypothesis, Laland and colleagues rely on four convergent lines of evidence drawn from behavioral and neurobiological research on dance behavior in humans and rhythmic behavior in other animals. Here, we propose a less cognitive, more parsimonious account for the evolution of dance. Our âtiming and interactionâ hypothesis suggests that dance is scaffolded off of broadly conserved timing mechanisms allowing both cooperative and antagonistic social coordination
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