Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40561040›Full record

ArticleScience advances2025

The evolution of infant-directed communication: Comparing vocal input across all great apes.

Franziska Wegdell, Caroline Fryns, Johanna Schick, Lara Nellissen, Marion Laporte, Martin Surbeck, Maria A van Noordwijk, Shelly Masi, Birgit Hellwig, Erik P Willems and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

14 authors.

Franziska WegdellDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-3108-2999
Caroline FrynsDepartment of Comparative Cognition, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-7686-7274
Johanna SchickInstitute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-4009-1683
Lara NellissenDepartment of Comparative Cognition, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.ORCID 0009-0002-5341-869X
Marion LaporteHistoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique, UMR7194, PaleoFED, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.ORCID 0000-0002-8565-7663
Martin SurbeckDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2910-2927
Maria A van NoordwijkDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-9633-0845
Shelly MasiEcoanthropologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, University Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France.ORCID 0000-0002-5692-0645
Birgit HellwigDepartment of Linguistics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-4696-0827
Erik P WillemsDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-7555-3484
Klaus ZuberbühlerDepartment of Comparative Cognition, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-8378-088X
Carel P van SchaikDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-5738-4509
Sabine StollInstitute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Simon W TownsendDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Human language is unique among communication systems since many elements are learned and transmitted across generations. Previous research suggests that this process is best predicted by infant-directed communication, i.e., a mode of communication directed by caregivers to children. Despite its importance for language, whether infant-directed communication is unique to humans or rooted more deeply in the primate lineage remains unclear. To assess this, we investigated directed and surrounding vocal communication in human infants and infants of wild nonhuman great apes. Our findings reveal that human infants receive dramatically more infant-directed communication than nonhuman great ape infants. These data suggest that the earliest hominins likely relied more on surrounding communication to become communicatively competent, while infant-directed vocal communication became considerably more prominent with human language.

Indexed as

Animal CommunicationBiological EvolutionHominidaeVocalization, AnimalAnimalsFemaleHumansInfantLanguageMale

Identifiers

PMID40561040
PMCPMC12190005

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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.