Precursors of Music and Language in Animals

Language and music are universal human traits, raising the question for their evolutionary origin. This chapter takes a comparative perspective to address that question. It examines similarities and differences between humans and non-human animals (mammals and birds) by addressing whether and which constituent cognitive components that underlie the human ability for language and music can be found in non-human animals. It first provides an introduction to the nature and meaning of vocalizations and non-vocal communicative sounds in non-human animals. Next it reviews experimental and observational evidence of animal perception of various frequency and temporal dimensions of sounds. Many animal species show perceptual and cognitive abilities to distinguish between or to generalize auditory stimuli. This includes evidence of the presence of one or more of the constituent cognitive components on which the human abilities for language and music are based, or that may have served as precursors for these components. At the same time, there are also important differences among animal species in their abilities. Hence contrasts are not limited to those between humans and other animal species. The differences between humans and other species, as well as those among non-human species, might result from specific biases and the weight or priority certain species give to attending to certain features of an acoustic signal, or because different species use particular mechanisms to different degrees

Development and application of a sensitive, high precision weighing lysimeter for use in greenhouses

A high precision weighing lysimeter for measuring evapotranspiration in greenhouses was developed. The instrument has a measurement of sensitivity of one part in 106, that is one order of magnitude better than any other so far described in the literature. With it, evaporation rates in a greenhouse, even at night, can be measured on a one minute time scale. Development and construction of the instrument are described and measurements of the transpiration of a tomato crop in a greenhouse are used to demonstrate its capabilities

Assessing the uniqueness of language: Animal grammatical abilities take center stage

Animal science

Revisiting vocal perception in non-human animals: a review of vowel discrimination, speaker voice recognition, and speaker normalization

Article / Letter to editorInstituut Biologie LeidenInstituut Biologie Leide

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

Zebra finches rely mainly on syllable phonology rather than on syllable sequence when they discriminate between two songs. However, they can also learn to discriminate two strings of containing the same set of syllables by their sequence. How learning about the phonological characteristics of syllables and their sequence relate to each other and to the composition of the stimuli is still an open question. We compared whether and how the zebra finches’ relative sensitivity for syllable phonology and syllable sequence depends on the differences between syllable strings. Zebra finches were trained in a Go-Left/Go-Right task to discriminate either between two strings in which each string contained a unique set of song syllables or two strings in which both strings contained the same set of syllables, but in a different sequential order. We assessed to what extent the birds in the two experimental groups attend to the spectral characteristics and the sequence of the syllables by measuring the responses to test strings consisting of spectral modifications or sequence changes. Our results showed no difference in the number of trials needed to discriminate strings consisting of either different or identical sets of syllables. Both experimental groups attended to changes in spectral features in a similar way, but the group for which both training strings consisted of the same set of syllables responded more strongly to changes in sequence than the group for which the training strings consisted of different sets of syllables. This outcome suggests the presence of an additional learning process to learn about syllable sequence when learning about syllable phonology is not sufficient to discriminate two strings. Our study thus demonstrates that the relative importance of syllable phonology and sequence depends on which of these features vary among stimuli. This indicates cognitive flexibility in the acoustic features that songbirds might use in their song recognition

Zebra finches (<i>Taeniopygia guttata</i>) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

Zebra fnches rely mainly on syllable phonology rather than on syllable sequence when they discriminate between two songs. However, they can also learn to discriminate two strings containing the same set of syllables by their sequence. How learning about the phonological characteristics of syllables and their sequence relate to each other and to the composition of the stimuli is still an open question. We compared whether and how the zebra fnches’ relative sensitivity for syllable phonology and syllable sequence depends on the diferences between syllable strings. Two groups of zebra fnches were trained in a Go-Left/Go-Right task to discriminate either between two strings in which each string contained a unique set of song syllables (‘Diferent-syllables group’) or two strings in which both strings contained the same set of syllables, but in a diferent sequential order (‘Same-syllables group’). We assessed to what extent the birds in the two experimental groups attend to the spectral characteristics and the sequence of the syllables by measuring the responses to test strings consisting of spectral modifcations or sequence changes. Our results showed no diference in the number of trials needed to discriminate strings consisting of either diferent or identical sets of syllables. Both experimental groups attended to changes in spectral features in a similar way, but the group for which both training strings consisted of the same set of syllables responded more strongly to changes in sequence than the group for which the training strings consisted of diferent sets of syllables. This outcome suggests the presence of an additional learning process to learn about syllable sequence when learning about syllable phonology is not sufcient to discriminate two strings. Our study thus demonstrates that the relative importance of syllable phonology and sequence depends on how these features vary among stimuli. This indicates cognitive fexibility in the acoustic features that songbirds might use in their song recognition.Animal science

Low dose endotoxin priming is accountable for coagulation abnormalities and organ damage observed in the Shwartzman reaction. A comparison between a single-dose endotoxemia model and a double-hit endotoxin-induced Shwartzman reaction

The clinical response of sepsis to a systemic inflammatory infection may be complicated by disseminated intravascular coagulation or DIC. In order to experimentally study the syndrome of DIC, we aimed for a severe sepsis model complicated by disseminated coagulation. Most -simplified- experimental models describing coagulation abnormalities as a consequence of sepsis are based on single dose endotoxemia. The so called-Shwartzman reaction contrarily, is elicited by a low dose endotoxin priming followed by an LPS challenge and is characterized by pathological manifestations that represent the syndrome of DIC. In order to investigate whether the Shwartzman reaction is superior to a single endotoxin challenge as a model for sepsis-induced DIC and to determine what the pathological effect is of an encounter of low endotoxin prior to an LPS challenge, we undertook the present study. In this study we demonstrate that low-dose endotoxin priming prior to an LPS challenge in the Shwartzman reaction is accountable for micro-vascular thrombosis in lung and liver and subsequent (multi-) organ failure, not observed after a single-dose endotoxin challenge, which indicates that the Shwartzman reaction is well suited-model to study sepsis-induced DIC adversities. Remarkably, only minor differences in the innate immune response were established between the single-dose endotoxin challenge and the Shwartzman reaction

Can Birds Perceive Rhythmic Patterns? A Review and Experiments on a Songbird and a Parrot Species

Article / Letter to editorInstituut Biologie Leide