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Multiple acoustic features underlie vocal signal recognition in tamarins: antiphonal calling experiments

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Abstract

We examine which acoustic features are relevant for recognition of the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) combination long-call. This vocalization, emitted by both males and females, functions in maintaining group cohesion, territory defense and mate attraction. Using the tamarins’ natural antiphonal vocal response to hearing a combination long-call as the primary measure of recognition, we presented subjects with synthetic exemplars of combination long-calls in which we manipulated across one of three acoustic dimensions: frequency, time and amplitude. Results indicated that although acoustic features in the frequency and time domains are important for combination long-call recognition, the changes in amplitude within and between syllables are not. Furthermore, while the fundamental frequency appears to be the used to encode information about the frequency contour, the temporal information is derived from the harmonics. Overall, these results suggest that tamarins use a specific suite of acoustic features for combination long-call recognition.

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Abbreviations

CLC:

combination long-call

F0:

fundamental frequency

JND:

just noticeable difference

JMD:

just meaningful difference

IPI:

inter-pulse interval

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Matt Kamen, Teddy Jones, and Grace Wang for their invaluable help running these experiments. Asif Ghazanfar, Roian Egnor and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier draft that greatly improved the manuscript. We thank the NERPRC for providing some of the initial founding members of the colony. This work was supported by a NIH Individual NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship to C.T.M. and grants from the NSF, NIH and McDonnell Foundation to M.D.H.

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  1. C. T. Miller

    Present address: Laboratory of Auditory Neurophysiology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 420 Rutland Ave., Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

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  1. Primate Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

    C. T. Miller & M. D. Hauser

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  2. M. D. Hauser
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Correspondence to C. T. Miller.

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Miller, C.T., Hauser, M.D. Multiple acoustic features underlie vocal signal recognition in tamarins: antiphonal calling experiments. J Comp Physiol A 190, 7–19 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-003-0468-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-003-0468-1

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