PSYC 311 1st EditionLecture 19April 7 – Communication and Language I. Communication: when an evolved information bearing signal is sent from one individual to another, and the recipient responds a. Sharing information i. Identification – recognition of kin, species, caste1. Dolphin signature whistlesii. Location of food 1. Food hoots in chimps (don’t share)iii. Mating – phenotypical and genetic quality, reproductive isolating mechanisms (“I am of your species”)1. Courtship rituals in birds iv. Signal intent1. Threat (I’m angry), fear (I’m scared)2. Prosody and facial expressionb. Manipulate Others (dogs)i. Restraint (keep away, calm me), submission, diversion, begging ii. Learning – early learning of communication signals and responses (criticalin mammals)1. Rats raised in isolation vs. social situations a. Recognizing threat and learning responses to threat c. Defense – signaling groups to gather for mutual defense i. Alarm cries – can be inter-species, can be misleading ii. Intraspecies threat – within the same species iii. Interspecies threat – Big 5 (elephant, leopard, lion, rhino, cape buffalo)1. Honesty – threats/bluffsa. Animal communication often tied to physical characteristics (cannot lie)b. Stable social units, cheating/lying more costly than honestyi. Recognition of the meaning of signal is importantii. Universal facial expressions II. Origin of Species a. Intentional movements – beginnings of attack sequences b. Displacement activities – meaning not intuitively obvious (must be wired in or learned) c. Autonomic responses – vasodilation (blushing), piloerection (hair standing on end), eyes dilating (cannot be faked)d. Urinating/defecating – spitting, hormonal markings, etc.e. Meta-communication – communicating about communications i. Dogs: soliciting play (play-bow) or soliciting help III. Other signalsa. Giving care (epimelitic) and soliciting care (et-epimelitic)b. Channels – study these slides i. Which channel is best depends on sensory capabilities and the animals environments ii. Vision – widely used – signals might be brief1. Light required (unless thermal) and usually can be re-examined a. Sign stimuli in aroused Cichlid (Oscar)iii. Auditory – very brief, must often be repeated1. Our language, mating calls, territorial announcements 2. Many outside the range of human hearing a. Elephant/whale ultrasound, high-frequency sonar in bats/dolphins iv. Olfactory cues – must be up wind 1. Pheromonal control of mating a. Priming, attraction, signaling 2. Territorial markings – fear, danger v. Tactual – grooming and kneading (poking, touching, mating vi. Miscellaneous 1. Surface vibrations – spider webs, elephants 2. Electric fields in fish c. Language – linguists define language based on human characteristics (excluding non-humans)i. Bee communication by von Frisch 1. Round dance (short range), sickle dance (medium range), waggle dance (long range)ii. Chimp communication – understanding vs. production 1. Vocalizations and meta-communication a. Prosody (body language) and facial
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