Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31735147›Full record

ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2020

Towards a new taxonomy of primate vocal production learning.

Julia Fischer, Kurt Hammerschmidt

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed
7.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Utterance evolution: the road to generative, combinatorial communicators.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026
    Review
  2. Altricial brains and the evolution of infant vocal learning.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. The neurobiology of vocal communication in marmosets.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2023
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. A convergent interaction engine: vocal communication among marmoset monkeys.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Review
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Chimpanzee vowel-like sounds and voice quality suggest formant space expansion through the hominoid lineage.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Article
  13. Article
  14. A dual larynx motor networks hypothesis.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021
    Review
  15. Vocal imitations and production learning by Australian musk ducks (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021
    Article
  16. Re-evaluating vocal production learning in non-oscine birds.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021
    Review
  17. The multi-dimensional nature of vocal learning.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021
    Review
  18. Vocal production learning in mammals revisited.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021
    Review
  19. Vocal learning as a preadaptation for the evolution of human beat perception and synchronization.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021
    Article
  20. Individual Differences in the Vocal Communication of Malayan Tapirs (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Julia FischerCognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, Göttingen, Niedersachsen 37077, Germany.
Kurt HammerschmidtCognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, Göttingen, Niedersachsen 37077, Germany.
German Primate Center · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The extent to which vocal learning can be found in nonhuman primates is key to reconstructing the evolution of speech. Regarding the adjustment of vocal output in relation to auditory experience (vocal production learning in the narrow sense), effects on the ontogenetic trajectory of vocal development as well as adjustment to group-specific call features have been found. Yet, a comparison of the vocalizations of different primate genera revealed striking similarities in the structure of calls and repertoires in different species of the same genus, indicating that the structure of nonhuman primate vocalizations is highly conserved. Thus, modifications in relation to experience only appear to be possible within relatively tight species-specific constraints. By contrast, comprehension learning may be extremely rapid and open-ended. In conjunction, these findings corroborate the idea of an ancestral independence of vocal production and auditory comprehension learning. To overcome the futile debate about whether or not vocal production learning can be found in nonhuman primates, we suggest putting the focus on the different mechanisms that may mediate the adjustment of vocal output in response to experience; these mechanisms may include auditory facilitation and learning from success. This article is part of the theme issue 'What can animal communication teach us about human language?'

Indexed as

Animal CommunicationAnimalsBiological EvolutionCallithrixComprehensionHumansLanguageLearningMacacaPan troglodytesPapioPrimatesSpecies SpecificitySpeechVocalization, Animalalarm callsChlorocebuslearningPapiospeech evolutionvocal production

Identifiers

PMID31735147
PMCPMC6895554
OpenAlexW2986026538

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.