Animal vocal communication: function, structures, and production mechanisms

Animal vocal communication: function, structures, and production mechanisms

Understanding the processes involved in how and why animals communicate has long been fascinating to scientists (Darwin 1871). This endeavor plays a key role in the pursuit of reaching a better comprehension both of the rules involved in organizing the animal societies around us (Freeberg et al. 2012) and of the evolutionary bases underlying our own vocal communication system: human language (F...

Neurobiology of vocal communication: mechanisms for sensorimotor integration and vocal patterning.

This review will focus on recent developments in the sensorimotor integration of vocal communication. Two broad themes are emphasized: the evolution of vocal production and perception, and the role of social context. Advances include: a proposal for the emergence of vocal patterning during vertebrate evolution, the role of sensory mechanisms such as categorical perception in decoding communicat...

The Design of Animal Communication: partI - Mechanisms of Communication

Behavioral mechanisms underlying vocal communication in nonhuman primates

In the wild, nonhuman primate vocalizations signal the presence of different predators, provide information about the group's location and movement, facilitate friendly interactions, and lead to reconciliation between individuals who have recently exchanged aggression. Current research examines the mechanisms that underlie such communication. Playback experiments demonstrate that subjects treat...

Microbial and Animal Rhodopsins: Structures, Functions, and Molecular Mechanisms

Molecular Mechanisms Oliver P. Ernst,*,† David T. Lodowski,‡ Marcus Elstner, Peter Hegemann, Leonid S. Brown, and Hideki Kandori †Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, Medical Sciences Building, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada ‡Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid...