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Authors & Affiliations
Cristina Risueno Segovia, Rieko Setsuie, Masanori Matsuzaki
Abstract
Vocal communication is of utmost importance in human and animal interactions. However, little is known regarding the physiological states underlying vocal signaling. It was thought for decades that the ability to decouple emotional states from the vocal output, indicating volitional control of vocalizations, was a clear distinction between humans and non-human primates, whose affective state was supposed to exclusively drive vocal behavior. Additionally, human speech involves a very sophisticated control of breathing with multiple units of sound produced during extended expirations. Novel evidence points towards some degree of learned vocal flexibility rather than pure affective vocal output in non-human primates. Recent studies have shown that rhesus macaques, as well as marmoset monkeys, are capable of volitionally vocalizing in response to arbitrary visual cues. New questions arise regarding the capability to control the vocal output in relation to underlying physiological states. In this study, the cardiorespiratory parameters: electrocardiography, and respiration, have been measured during the learning process to volitionally vocalize in two marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Our results indicate that distinct call types might be phase-locked to the respiratory signal while the vocalizations could be decoupled from heart rate levels. This approach would be highly beneficial to disentangle the vocal-cardiorespiratory interactions during the learning process to take control of the vocal output.