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Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions

Deciphering nonhuman communication – particularly nonhuman vocal communication – has been a longstanding human quest. We are, for example, fascinated by the songs of birds and whales, the grunts of apes, the barks of dogs, and the croaks of frogs; we wonder about their potential meaning and their re...

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Autor principal: Pepperberg, Irene M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8495326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34630194
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647841
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author Pepperberg, Irene M.
author_facet Pepperberg, Irene M.
author_sort Pepperberg, Irene M.
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description Deciphering nonhuman communication – particularly nonhuman vocal communication – has been a longstanding human quest. We are, for example, fascinated by the songs of birds and whales, the grunts of apes, the barks of dogs, and the croaks of frogs; we wonder about their potential meaning and their relationship to human language. Do these utterances express little more than emotional states, or do they convey actual bits and bytes of concrete information? Humans’ numerous attempts to decipher nonhuman systems have, however, progressed slowly. We still wonder why only a small number of species are capable of vocal learning, a trait that, because it allows for innovation and adaptation, would seem to be a prerequisite for most language-like abilities. Humans have also attempted to teach nonhumans elements of our system, using both vocal and nonvocal systems. The rationale for such training is that the extent of success in instilling symbolic reference provides some evidence for, at the very least, the cognitive underpinnings of parallels between human and nonhuman communication systems. However, separating acquisition of reference from simple object-label association is not a simple matter, as reference begins with such associations, and the point at which true reference emerges is not always obvious. I begin by discussing these points and questions, predominantly from the viewpoint of someone studying avian abilities. I end by examining the question posed by Premack: do nonhumans that have achieved some level of symbolic reference then process information differently from those that have not? I suggest the answer is likely “yes,” giving examples from my research on Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus).
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spelling pubmed-84953262021-10-08 Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions Pepperberg, Irene M. Front Psychol Psychology Deciphering nonhuman communication – particularly nonhuman vocal communication – has been a longstanding human quest. We are, for example, fascinated by the songs of birds and whales, the grunts of apes, the barks of dogs, and the croaks of frogs; we wonder about their potential meaning and their relationship to human language. Do these utterances express little more than emotional states, or do they convey actual bits and bytes of concrete information? Humans’ numerous attempts to decipher nonhuman systems have, however, progressed slowly. We still wonder why only a small number of species are capable of vocal learning, a trait that, because it allows for innovation and adaptation, would seem to be a prerequisite for most language-like abilities. Humans have also attempted to teach nonhumans elements of our system, using both vocal and nonvocal systems. The rationale for such training is that the extent of success in instilling symbolic reference provides some evidence for, at the very least, the cognitive underpinnings of parallels between human and nonhuman communication systems. However, separating acquisition of reference from simple object-label association is not a simple matter, as reference begins with such associations, and the point at which true reference emerges is not always obvious. I begin by discussing these points and questions, predominantly from the viewpoint of someone studying avian abilities. I end by examining the question posed by Premack: do nonhumans that have achieved some level of symbolic reference then process information differently from those that have not? I suggest the answer is likely “yes,” giving examples from my research on Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8495326/ /pubmed/34630194 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647841 Text en Copyright © 2021 Pepperberg. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Pepperberg, Irene M.
Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions
title Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions
title_full Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions
title_fullStr Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions
title_full_unstemmed Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions
title_short Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions
title_sort nonhuman and nonhuman-human communication: some issues and questions
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8495326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34630194
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647841
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