Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39212694›Full record

ArticleAnimal cognition2024

Cross-population variation in usage of a call combination: evidence of signal usage flexibility in wild bonobos.

Isaac Schamberg, Martin Surbeck, Simon W Townsend

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Animal cognition, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

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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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Utterance evolution: the road to generative, combinatorial communicators.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026
    Review
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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

3 authors.

Isaac SchambergDept. of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. isaac.schamberg@uzh.ch.
Martin Surbeck *Dept. of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Simon W Townsend *Dept. of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified is one of the features responsible for language's extreme lability, adaptability, and expressiveness. Understanding this arbitrariness and its emergence is essential in any account of the evolution of language. To shed light on the phylogeny of the phenomenon, comparative data examining the relationship between signal form and function in the communication systems of non-humans is central. Here we report the results of a study on the production and usage the whistle-high hoot call combination (W + HH) from two distant populations of wild bonobos (Pan paniscus): Lui Kotale, DRC, and Kokolopori, DRC. We find that the context in which bonobos produce the W + HHs varies systematically between populations. Our results suggest that variation in W + HH production may represent an example of signal-adjustment optionality, a key component of arbitrariness.

Indexed as

Pan paniscusAnimalsFemaleMaleVocalization, AnimalAnimal communicationAnimal signalsArbitrarinessBonobosCall combinationsEvolution of languagePrimate communication

Identifiers

PMID39212694
PMCPMC11364580

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.