Topic: closed-loop playback

Humans, dolphins, and elephants are the only known species that vocally label their conspecifics. It remains unclear whether nonhuman primates share this ability. By recording hundreds of spontaneous “phee-call” dialogues between pairs of marmoset monkeys we discovered that marmosets use these calls to vocally label their conspecifics. Moreover, by using closed-loop playback experiments we found that they respond more consistently and correctly to calls that are specifically directed at them. Analysis of calls from multiple monkeys revealed that family members use similar calls and acoustic fe