Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-7zcd7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-08T12:04:31.033Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Very young infants' responses to human and nonhuman primate vocalizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Brock Ferguson ,
Danielle R. Perszyk  and
Sandra R. Waxman
Brock Ferguson
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. brock@u.northwestern.edu danielleperszyk2017@u.northwestern.edu s-waxman@northwestern.edu http://www.psychology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/profiles/sandra-waxman.html
Danielle R. Perszyk
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. brock@u.northwestern.edu danielleperszyk2017@u.northwestern.edu s-waxman@northwestern.edu http://www.psychology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/profiles/sandra-waxman.html
Sandra R. Waxman
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. brock@u.northwestern.edu danielleperszyk2017@u.northwestern.edu s-waxman@northwestern.edu http://www.psychology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/profiles/sandra-waxman.html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent evidence from very young human infants' responses to human and nonhuman primate vocalizations offers new insights – and brings new questions – to the forefront for those who seek to integrate primate-general and human-specific mechanisms of acoustic communication with theories of language acquisition.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 553 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Berwick, R. C., Friederici, A. D., Chomsky, N. & Bolhuis, J. J. (2013) Evolution, brain, and the nature of language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 17(2):89–98.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1965) Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ferguson, B. & Waxman, S. R. (2013) Communication and categorization: New insights into the relation between speech, labels and concepts for infants. In: Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, ed. Knauff, M., Pauen, M., Sebanz, N. & Wachsmuth, I., pp. 2267–72. Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar
Ferry, A. L., Hespos, S. J. & Waxman, S. R. (2010) Categorization in 3- and 4-month-old infants: An advantage of words over tones. Child Development 81(2):472–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferry, A. L., Hespos, S. J. & Waxman, S. R. (2013) Nonhuman primate vocalizations support categorization in very young human infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110(38):15231–35.Google Scholar
Fitch, W. T. (2011) Speech perception: A language-trained chimpanzee weighs in. Current Biology 21(14):R543–46.Google Scholar
Fulkerson, A. L. & Waxman, S. R. (2007) Words (but not tones) facilitate object categorization: Evidence from 6- and 12-month-olds. Cognition 105(1):218–28.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. & Mylander, C. (1983) Gestural communication in deaf children: Noneffect of parental input on language development. Science, New Series 221(4608):372–74.Google ScholarPubMed
Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N. & Fitch, W. T. (2002) The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science 298(5598):1569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newport, E. L. & Meier, R. P. (1985) The acquisition of American Sign Language. In: The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition, ed. Slobin, D., pp. 881–38. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Penn, D. C., Holyoak, K. J. & Povinelli, D. J. (2008) Darwin's mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31(2):109–78.Google Scholar
Perszyk, D. R. & Waxman, S. R. (2013) The role of experience in linking sounds and meaning in language acquisition. Paper Presented at the 38th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA, November 3, 2013.Google Scholar
Petitto, L. A. & Marentette, P. F. (1991) Babbling in the manual mode: Evidence for the ontogeny of language. Science 251(5000):1493–96.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. & Bloom, P. (1990) Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13:707–84.Google Scholar
Stoeger, A. S., Mietchen, D., Oh, S., de Silva, S. & Herbst, C. T. (2012) An Asian elephant imitates human speech. Current Biology 22(22):2144–48.Google Scholar
Vouloumanos, A., Hauser, M. D., Werker, J. F. & Martin, A. (2010) The tuning of human neonates' preference for speech. Child Development 81(2):517–27.Google Scholar
Waxman, S. R. & Gelman, S. A. (2009) Early word-learning entails reference, not merely associations. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13(6):258–63.Google Scholar