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Monkeys link faces and sounds
Humans may have evolved a language skill from primate ancestors.
26 June 2003
HELEN R. PILCHER
Rhesus monkeys have a repertoire of calls and facial expressions.
© C.T. Miller
Rhesus monkeys can match up sounds and facial expressions, research suggests1. It hints that our capacity to do likewise may have evolved from our primate ancestors.
"Some people had thought that the ability was unique to humans," says Asif Ghazanfar of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany, who studied the monkeys. Other animals had simply not been tested.
In captivity and the wild, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) produce a variety of noises. "Almost all have a unique facial expression," says Ghazanfar.
Two calls tip the top 15 sounds in the rhesus repertoire. Animals in danger make a short, sharp threatening call - eyes wide, ears flat, mouth wide open. If times are good, they may 'coo', with lips pouting and open just a little.
Ghazanfar showed 11 adult monkeys silent side-by-side videos of threat and coo expressions. When he played the sound of one call, the animals looked straight at the matching face, he found. Over 65% of the monkeys got it right without any training.
Human infants can match voice to face from two months old - long before they have learned to speak. The new results suggest that we may have inherited the trick from primate forebears.
Monkeys identified threat calls with this face.
© A. Ghazanfor
"This skill is critical to language development," says psychologist Janet Werker from the University of British Columbia, Canada, who studies infant speech. "It helps the child figure out who is speaking and where the voice is coming from," she adds.
The findings might also help researchers understand how language is represented in the brain. The vocal and facial components of speech may be represented in intimately linked regions, suggests Werker.
References
Ghazanfar, A. A. & Logothetis, N. K. Facial expressions linked to monkey calls. Nature, 423, 937 - 938, (2003).
Monkeys link faces and sounds
Humans may have evolved a language skill from primate ancestors.
26 June 2003
HELEN R. PILCHER
Rhesus monkeys have a repertoire of calls and facial expressions.
© C.T. Miller
Rhesus monkeys can match up sounds and facial expressions, research suggests1. It hints that our capacity to do likewise may have evolved from our primate ancestors.
"Some people had thought that the ability was unique to humans," says Asif Ghazanfar of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany, who studied the monkeys. Other animals had simply not been tested.
In captivity and the wild, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) produce a variety of noises. "Almost all have a unique facial expression," says Ghazanfar.
Two calls tip the top 15 sounds in the rhesus repertoire. Animals in danger make a short, sharp threatening call - eyes wide, ears flat, mouth wide open. If times are good, they may 'coo', with lips pouting and open just a little.
Ghazanfar showed 11 adult monkeys silent side-by-side videos of threat and coo expressions. When he played the sound of one call, the animals looked straight at the matching face, he found. Over 65% of the monkeys got it right without any training.
Human infants can match voice to face from two months old - long before they have learned to speak. The new results suggest that we may have inherited the trick from primate forebears.
Monkeys identified threat calls with this face.
© A. Ghazanfor
"This skill is critical to language development," says psychologist Janet Werker from the University of British Columbia, Canada, who studies infant speech. "It helps the child figure out who is speaking and where the voice is coming from," she adds.
The findings might also help researchers understand how language is represented in the brain. The vocal and facial components of speech may be represented in intimately linked regions, suggests Werker.
References
Ghazanfar, A. A. & Logothetis, N. K. Facial expressions linked to monkey calls. Nature, 423, 937 - 938, (2003).
