Descripción del proyecto
Información nueva sobre el sistema de percepción de la voz de los mamíferos
Las vocalizaciones de los mamíferos contienen pistas importantes sobre sus identidades y estados internos. Indicios recientes sugieren que determinados mecanismos y especializaciones cerebrales auditivas humanas, relevantes para la percepción del habla y de la voz, están relacionados con cambios bruscos en las capacidades humanas en comparación con otros primates. La cuestión es determinar si las especializaciones cerebrales para la voz y la percepción del habla reflejan predisposiciones específicas de los humanos, en vez de ser la consecuencia de adaptaciones evolutivas rápidas. El proyecto VOIMA, financiado con fondos europeos, combinará la etología e imágenes encefálicas para comparar el tratamiento de las señales vocales y la voz en personas, perros y cerdos. El objetivo del proyecto es ofrecer información nueva sobre cómo el habla ha determinado la percepción humana de la voz.
Objetivo
Vocalizations of any mammal carry prominent cues about the inner states and identity of the vocalizer. Voice is also a prevalent channel for humans’ recently emerged communication system, speech. Recent evidence suggests that certain human auditory brain specializations and mechanisms, relevant for voice and speech perception, reflect abrupt shifts in human capacities compared to other primates. Do these brain specializations for voice and speech perception reflect human-specific predispositions and are thus human-unique, or are they the consequence of rapid evolutionary adaptations or developmental accommodations of the ancient voice perception system to recent demands imposed by the presence of speech? I hypothesize that in general voice perception mechanisms are conserved across mammals, and provide a neuronal niche in which specializations for human voice and speech perception may arise also in non-humans. The case of companion animals provides an unparalleled model system to study the possible evolutionary and experiential effects of the presence of speech on the mammalian voice perception system. Dogs and pigs are phylogenetically distant, highly vocal species that live, when kept as companions, with humans. VOIMA combines ethology and brain imaging (EEG/fMRI/HD-DOT) to compare voice and speech processing in humans, dogs and pigs: WP1 seeks evidence for selective processing of conspecific voices, human voice, and speech. WP2 explores the mechanisms and specific sensitivities for inner state coding, voice identity recognition and vocalizer normalization, from con- and heterospecific voice. WP3 tests how sensitivities to human voice and speech emerge across dog breed types, in neonate dogs, pigs, wolves and wild boars, and in input-manipulated developing dogs. Revealing how adaptation to the human social niche shapes domestic mammals' voice perception, this project will provide new insights on how speech shaped human voice perception.
Ámbito científico
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animals
- humanitieslanguages and literaturelinguisticsphonetics
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringdiagnostic imagingmagnetic resonance imaging
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogy
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiological behavioural sciencesethology
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
1053 Budapest
Hungría