Artigo Acesso aberto

The association of visual concepts and imitative vocalizations in the mynah (Gracula religiosa)

1982; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 19; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3758/bf03330039

ISSN

2197-9979

Autores

Thomas H. Turney,

Tópico(s)

Marine animal studies overview

Resumo

Birds have been observed to refer to objects such as predators with characteristic vocalizations, but little is known of the processes involved. In order to study this phenomenon, two associations between visual concepts and imitative vocalizations were operantly conditioned in a Greater Indian Hill mynah. The mynah was successfully taught to say “hello” to pictures of persons and then to “bark” to pictures of trees. Correctness and latency data during acquisition and generalization tests to novel pictures are presented. The visual concept-imitative vocalization association paradigm could be useful in studying avian semantics, as well as the evolution and neurophysiology of vocal communication.

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